mended
by insanity-dreams
Summary: When Sakura Haruno gets accepted into Konoha State University on a scholarship, she's ecstatic. But then comes in Sasuke Uchiha, the brother of the dean, and the guy who she promptly spilled coffee on at her work. One wrong move and it's bye-bye KSU. "You wouldn't want your scholarship at KSU to disappear, right? So cooperate." —SasuSaku College!Fic
1. I

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

I.

* * *

I stared at the tip jar that had a paper taped to the front of it with the words _COLLEGE MONEY _on it, and sighed when I realized that it wasn't even a sixth filled up.

Tearing my eyes away from the jar, I continued to wipe down a booth until someone had called me over. I trudged my way over to a table that consisted of teenage girls—juniors probably—and it was obvious that they were overconfident and cocky by the way they rose an eyebrow at me.

"What can I get you?" I asked in a forced cheery voice and took my pen that was balanced behind my ear in preparation to write down their orders.

The bells of the coffee shop rang violently when someone slammed the door open and broodingly walked over to an empty table. It seemed like a dark cloud of rain would appear out of nowhere and hover over his head menacingly at any given time.

"Well," one of the girls started. "You can get me that guy that just walked in, he's yummy!" She giggled, and apparently, it was contagious because the rest of her friends mimicked her ringing laughter.

"What can I get you?" I repeated through my teeth, noting how these girls reminded me so much of the ones when I was in high school, which was a year ago.

The same teenager that had made the joke pursed her lips, probably wondering why I didn't laugh. "Three low-cal cappuccino's ."

Nodding, I headed back to the counter and dotted my_ I_ in _cappuccino_ before sticking the note on a spindle. I voiced the order and let my eyes scan over the shop. The guy who stomped in still hadn't gotten his order written down, and I couldn't really find Tenten anywhere.

_Maybe she's in the bathroom..._ I thought and grabbed the hazelnut coffee that came out of the kitchen window, didn't bother to read the order note that also said where it was going to, and dropped it off at the 3rd table on my way to the gloomy man that had spiked black hair.

"What can I get you?" I asked.

He didn't respond at all. Not even when I replayed my question, and I started to get annoyed.

"Order up!" _Ring-ring._

"When you're ready you can..." my statement trailed off when I noticed that he wasn't even paying attention to me, just the laminated menu, and I tapped my pen on my notepad. "Yeah..."

With that said, I sluggishly walked over to the window and took the cappuccino's and made my way towards the group of teenage girls with a tray of drinks.

"Here y'go." My voice was polite, and as was the smile on my face, but they didn't notice or didn't care because they didn't thank me when I placed their order on the table. They were too fixated on the guy that she'd called 'yummy'.

Rolling my eyes, I headed over to the man and questioned if he was ready to order just as Tenten appeared out of the bathroom.

"Black coffee, nothing else."

Blinking, I wrote down the words and his booth number as I went over to the counter and stuck the note on the spindle, voicing the order as always.

"Who's that guy?" Tenten asked, opening the cashier to restock the coins. I didn't even have to ask who she was talking about because I already had an idea about who it was.

"How should I know?" I shrugged, glancing back at the man for a moment. "He's kind of a jerk anyways..."

She snorted. "Of course! I mean he's hot, Sakura." Her hands reached under the table for the quarter rolls and when she took a few of them, she started to undo the flaps of the skinny cylinder sticks. "Stereotypes say that all hot guys are jerks."

"That's stupid."

"You're stupid."

"Your face is stu—"

"Order up!" _Ring-ring. _"And stop fighting, it's annoying."

I glowered at Tenten before laughing and I nudged her playfully. It was pretty normal for us to fight nearly every day, and for someone to tell us to stop.

The bells of the entrance door rang again, and I nearly did a double take when a bunch of teenage boys stampeded their way into the coffee shop, shirts stained with dirt and grass. From what I could decipher, they were a football team, and by the look on their faces, they won a game.

"Good luck," I quietly muttered to her as the team took a place in one of the large booths and I snatched the mug with steaming black coffee and put it on a small black tray that I attained from a stack that were near the straws.

While striding my way over to the lone man's table, I was oblivious to one of the football players that were walking backwards, talking to his team.

The boy bumped into me, his back crashing into my side and his legs tripping over mine. The coffee on the plate tipped side to side before it landed on the angry man's shirt. If possible, he looked even angrier.

"Shit!" The football player cursed, hopping off me in a squat thrust. He pulled me to my feet quickly enough that I felt a head rush coming on but waved it off to take care of the man who I just spilled coffee on.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry!" I apologized with wide eyes, taking the napkins from the center of the table and dabbing it on the wet spot but it was to no avail because he stood up in a flurry, shooting me a hard look.

"Please, sit down!" I pleaded, putting a hand on his shoulder but he immediately scowled, shrugging off my hand.

"Dude!" The football player snapped. "She said she was sorry, and it was my fault anyways!" He puffed out his chest. "Stop being such an asshole!"

I watched the man go out the door silently as if the scalding coffee didn't affect him at all, and the door shook as it was shut with a crash.

Everything got quiet for a moment and all eyes fell on me. The younger guy—well, he looked younger—took the mug off the floor, side stepping the sticky drink.

"I apologize for crashing into you, I really didn't mean to." He said sincerely, also picking up the black tray.

Muffled laughter was heard and I knew that it was from the girls that were now leaving. It was obvious that the only reason they stayed was because of the man that I now spilled coffee on. But now that he was gone, they had no reason to linger.

Bells were heard as they left.

"I—It's okay."

"No," he frowned deeply as Tenten came to us with a mop and gave me a pitying look whilst she started mopping up the mess. "It's not okay. He shouldn't have treated you like that."

Slowly, everyone went back to their conversations, but I'm sure that I was a newly found topic for it. Taking the mug and tray from the boy, I went into the kitchen and ignored the stare that the worker in there gave me, and placed the coffee covered objects in the sink before walking out.

The guy who bumped into me was sitting on a stool on the counter near the cash register, apparently waiting for me.

I rose an eyebrow and walked over to the register since Tenten was stuck cleaning.

"I'm Kiba," he stated with a grin.

"Sakura." I continued to restock the quarters that she didn't finish and Kiba's smile faltered when that was all I said.

"So," his eyes fell on the college money tip jar. "You're going to college?" He asked, trying to make small talk. Appreciating his effort, I decided to reply.

"I'm _in _college," I sighed, getting the dime roll. "Community college. I'm just trying to save up to go to a better one." My explanation hopefully clarified the purpose of the jar.

"Huh."

There was a sound of coins being dropped and I looked over to see Kiba dropping a twenty dollar bill and change into the bucket.

He looked at me with another charming smile and my cheeks heated up. I noticed that he was also blushing too, but for some reason, his blush was shaped into upside down triangles—or maybe that was my eyes playing tricks on me.

—

I waved goodbye to Kiba and Tenten, and walked out of the shop. It was already the end of my shift. I didn't notice until Tenten pointed it out. She said that Kiba and I were too engrossed in various short conversation in between the small breaks I got when taking and giving out orders to realize it.

With my right hand, I opened my car door because my left hand had a mochachino in it that I ordered. It was already around six and the shop closed at nine because no coffee shop stays open past that time.

My old, worn-out car started the engine with a little bit of coaxing and I was on my way to my home.

After a few minutes, I pulled up into the driveway of my house and entered it not soon after. I kicked my shoes off in the hallway and took a sip of my drink.

"Mom, I'm home."

"Oh! I'm in the kitchen, sweetie!"

The smell of dinner wafted in the air. I didn't mind living with my mother, firstly because I loved her, and secondly because I didn't want to buy an apartment with a rent I couldn't afford to end up on the streets in three months.

Besides, she'll break down in hysterics if I ever do leave her, however, it'll happen soon when I'm done with college.

"How was work?" She asked, grabbing a spice from the cabinets.

"It was alright." I replied offhandedly. "Call me when dinner's ready."

I didn't bother to tell her about me spilling coffee on a stranger because to be honest, I didn't really want her to make a huge deal out of it.

Heading up the stairs, I opened the door to my room and fell on my bed, sighing contently when the plush fabric of the mattress sheets met the knots in my back from standing all day.

My hand reached over to the dresser near my lamp and I stared longingly at the college brochure but then my eyes landed on the tuition.

"I'm going to get in!" I said to myself, determination in my voice.

* * *

**Slow start, but it'll get better. Stories ALWAYS start off slow.**

**Review so I'll continue!**


	2. II

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

II.

* * *

My alarm clock violently vibrated and shattered the peaceful dream I was having—but it didn't really matter, considering how I'll probably forget the whole thing in a few minutes.

I ran a hand through my hair after I turned off the buzzing alarm and yawned loudly, stretching.

Slowly, I got out of the toasty comforters, yawning again and started to make the bed, because if my mother came home and found my room a mess, boy, I'll get an earful.

Bright red numbers flashed: _6:30 AM_ which quickly became _7:45 AM _when I was already beginning to straighten my hair.

I sprayed another spritz of heat protectant on the last section of my hair and finally finished. Looking at myself in the mirror, I contemplated wearing makeup or not—and decided against it for a moment before getting my makeup bag that was under my vanity.

Quickly, I coated my eyelashes with some mascara just to make my eyes pop in color and brushed some cover stick concealer paste on the dark circles that were slightly visible. Being honest, every college girl usually wears some sort of colored powder on their face to go to school, so it's hard to resist not doing the same.

Rubbing in the paste, I did a slide-glance at the clock and decided that it was time to go.

While walking down the hall, I turned off the lights that were still on, grabbed my car keys that hung on a key wall near the kitchen door and slipped on my beige Toms and snatched my tote bag that was hidden in a corner behind the couch_—_precautionary steps.

Well, the only danger that could come to my bag is if my mother searched through it again for a pen and accidentally tore up a few sheets. It's been done before.

It was somewhat already fall so it was fairly chilly and I could just hear my mothers voice ringing in my head: _"Wear a jacket! You'll get a cold!"_

I opened the closet that was by the exit of the house and slipped on a short trench coat. Truthfully, I wasn't fond of the long coats that went past your knees, so I just bought a mid-thigh version of it.

On the bright side, it was a deep khaki color so it sort of matched my Toms.

—

I entered the Community College a few minutes after I parked my car, and headed for my first class. Like always, Tenten was seated right in the middle of the classroom and had saved a spot for me next to her.

I went around a couple desks and greeted the people who were nice to me on a daily basis. It wasn't that I had enemies, it was just that I didn't really know too many of the students in the class.

Tenten and I had actually met the first day of College, and like a cheesy romance novel, I'd gotten lost and bumped into someone, however, the person I bumped into wasn't a boy who'd sweep me off my feet sooner or later, it was a girl who kept apologizing to me nonstop.

It turned out that we had the same class and both of us talked for a while at lunch break where we stopped to get something to drink at a place called Desu's Cafe—apparently, the shop was also a bakery_—_which she later told me was her father's store. Then I told her about me wanting to go to a better college, but how I had to pay tuition and she offered me a job which was briefly passed on to her dad who let me work there.

"So, did the letter come in yet?" She asked me when I sat down.

"No." I replied with a sigh, shrugging off my jacket.

I had sent out a letter to the college I wanted to go to, just to see if they'd accept me there, or if my hard work would go down the drain. But I'd sent in the application form about a month or two ago when Tenten kept pestering me about it and I still haven't heard back.

"That sucks, maybe their rolling admissions are slow... Well, at least your shirt is cute!"

My eyes trailed down to my striped tee. It was a shade lighter than my trench, whichwithout me realizing it_, _had produced a color scheme for my whole outfit.

"Hah, thanks..." I muttered but it felt like a brick had dropped into my stomach as I wondered why I hadn't gotten a letter back from Konoha State University.

Konoha State University, _KSU_, is a prestigious Ivy League school that only accepted the best of the best, if that made sense. Their classes ranged from studying to be in the law firm to becoming a star in theater. That college has only gotten Five Star reviews from everyone and the profession I'm currently studying_—_doctor_—_has a woman named Tsunade as a teacher. Tsunade's a world renowned medic, and nobody knows how badly I want to meet her!

Tenten opened her mouth to say something but the professor entered, smiling at us.

—

I hated the lunch rush.

It was always bells ringing, snobby teenage girls, and the occasional stocking up on sugar packets. I never remembered anything that happened in lunch rush, since it was a constant blur of people entering and leaving.

"Order up!" _Ring-ring. _

Tenten reached over my shoulder and took a to-go plain milk coffee to the register and rung up the customer whilst I carried a silver oval shaped tray with a few hot drinks on them.

The other reason I hated lunch rush is because... Well, it's lunch rush! There's way too many people coming in the shop for coffee_—_don't they know that coffee can make you stop growing?_—_but I'm happy at the same time because the store is getting popular! Sometimes I think that we need a new plague to balance out the amount of people in the world.

Bells jingled just as I put down the last cup that was on my tray on a person's table and placed the separate receipt by the mug.

"Sakura!"

I turned to see Kiba advancing towards me and I gave a little wave before slightly hurrying to the kitchen window when the cook kept hitting the little golden desk bell. The smell of warm cheesecake wafted into my nose and I'm pretty sure my stomach rumbled when I gave the dessert to Tenten who walked around the counter to serve to a booth.

"Hey," I smiled at him and wiped my hands on the forest green apron of the cafe. "What's up?"

It was now some sort of habit for Kiba to come in during my shift hours, and I didn't really mind because he was now company that I desperately needed when Tenten was too busy with playing cashier.

"Nothing much, just got out of school." He didn't bother looking up at the menu above my head and sat down on the counter bar stool. "Get me the usual."

My pen moved swiftly across the notepad in my hand and I ripped out the small paper before sticking it on the spindle. "One iced mocha and a red velvet slice!"

I knew his order by heart now, and that was only because he came back-to-back every weekday for the past week.

"Yeah, yeah..." The barista muttered and I rolled my eyes, turning back to Kiba.

"I find it so amazing that a football player likes iced mocha coffee." As I said that, an amused smile slipped onto my lips.

His original happy features melted into a sheepish one. "Shut up, it's a good drink!" He replied defensively.

"Ah, Kiba! Long time no see—and by that, I mean _yesterday_." Tenten laughed, placing the code in the register and it popped open. She put a few bills in different slots when he scowled, but his blushing cheeks didn't help his situation.

"You're just angry that there are no other cute high school boys like me!"

I scoffed.

"Ordeeeer up!" _Ring-ring._

"Get my food." Kiba grinned playfully and set his elbows on the counter, leaning forward when I grabbed his food and put it in front of him.

"Pushy..."

"Pushy indeed!" Tenten smirked as the order up bell rang again and she took her plates, glanced at the ripped notepad paper and left us alone with a wink.

Sure, it was weird to be friends with a senior in high school—but honestly, I'm not even in my second semester of being a freshman in college, so it didn't really matter to me. However, Tenten obviously thought that something was going to stir in our friendship when it wasn't going to!

"So how's football practice?"

"Haven't gone to it yet, I have to leave in like... twenty minutes or something."

"Uhm, isn't scarfing down food bad before practice?" I asked and knitted my eyebrows together while he ate another bite of the cake.

Kiba shrugged, downing the mocha in a minute. "I have to keep up my calories y'know, unlike you girls."

Before I could say anything to the sexist comment, someone amongst the people in the lunch rush had called out: "Excuse me,_ waitress_? Can we get some service?"

It surprised me that more people would rather sit in a booth instead of getting a to-go coffee.

"Back to work, huh Ms. Haruno?"

"Shut up."

—

God, I hated my hours. It was from when I got out of school to closing time, and I only got the weekends off. Yes, it was crazy but I needed the money if I wanted to get into KSU—not that I received their letter yet.

"I'll lock up, go home." Tenten demanded, rolling the forks, knives, and spoons in the cafe's green napkins.

Gratefully, I nodded and waved goodbye to the remaining workers just before heading out to my car.

The drive home was eerily quiet since the streets were empty. I pulled up at a red light and my headlights shone on the park just ahead, illuminating the playground.

The light turned green and I pressed my foot on the gas pedal, wondering what it would be like for my father to take me to a park.

Well, I would never know because my father died when I was about 3 years old. I faintly remember the day that my mother told me the old news when I was fourteen since I had kept bothering her about it, and I couldn't stop crying for some reason.

It only took about fifteen minutes to get home and when I did, the door was wide open, and I could see my mother cleaning up around the house inside from the window.

I turned off the ignition and sluggishly made my way into the house where my mother immediately stopped me, a huge grin on her face.

"Sakura, dear!"

Raising an eyebrow, I recoiled a few steps from her. "...Yes?"

"A few letters came in for you!"

My expression didn't change, it was still impassive. "Okay? It's probably from my magazine subscription."

She shook her head vigorously, the smile still evident on her face. "No, no! This one is a _special_ letter!"

"Special?"

My mom nodded, and clasped her hands together happily. "Yeah! Here!"

A letter was shoved in my hands and I looked at it carefully. It was in a plain white envelope, nothing _"special"_ about it. That was, until I read the address and from where it was sent.

I met my mother's eyes, and she basically shook with joy while my nerves raced. Then my gaze fell to the Polaroid camera strapped around her neck.

"KSU, honey! Konoha State University!" She yelped as if I didn't know the name of the college I was longing to go to. "Open it up!"

Slowly, I flipped the flaps up but that wasn't quick enough for my mom who tore it from my hands and opened it without a care.

"Read it, read it!"

The letter that came out of the envelope was back in my hands.

Truthfully, I didn't want to look at it. What if I didn't get in? My breath was caught in my throat and my mouth was suddenly dry. Badly concealed anxiety showed up on my features and my heart thudded in my chest.

"Are you okay?" My mother asked me, and got me to sit down on the couch, the letter in my hands shaking.

It was here, the moment was finally here. I was finally going to see if I was good enough to get into the university of my dreams.

Taking a deep breath the letter was opened and I took a moment to admire the cursive font and fancy coloring of the paper that felt like worn out sandpaper. The acceptance_—_or rejection_—_paper was fancier than the envelope.

It would be a long shot if I got into the school but I was finally reading the letter, sentence after sentence out loud as my mother grabbed my unoccupied hand and gave it a good squeeze.

"Please accept our sincere apologies about your late letter..." I trailed off, skipping a few words.

"And we are pleased to inform you that you, Sakura Haruno, are accepted into Konoha State University on a full-time scholarship due to your past grades and credits..."

The world started spinning around me and I gaped at the letter, my body going into hibernation mode as I started hyperventilating.

_Snap!_

I turned to my mother who threw her arms around me and that jerked me back into reality. I could hear my ecstatic voice screaming at the top of my lungs that I had gotten into KSU, and I jumped around, grinning like a madwoman. I'm sure that if I could do cartwheeld and splits, that I would be doing those all around the house!

When I got down from my high of euphoria, I took the picture that came out of the mouth of the camera. My expression was actually hilarious: cheeks ablaze, open mouth, and wide eyes.

I bit my lip and yelled again, laughing.

I was getting into Konoha State University—on a_ scholarship!_

* * *

**Another day, another chapter.**

**Review so I'll continue the story!**

**RANDOM FACT ABOUT THE AUTHOR: I am obsessed with my hair. Haha.**


	3. III

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

III.

* * *

"Wait...Y—You got in?!"

"Yes!"

Tenten threw her arms over me and nearly dragged me over the counter due to the force in her affection. I tried not to wince when the edge of the marble in the counter came in contact with a spot right below my bellybutton.

"You got in! You got in!" She kept chanting happily, attracting unwanted attention to us when the customers heard us.

My chin was set on the straps of the green apron she wore and my eyes were fixated on the abstract paintings that hung on the walls near the kitchen window to rid my mind of the pain I felt when the marble kept digging into my flesh.

"I told you that you would get in!"

Finally, she pulled away and I was left breathless, unaware that I was holding my breath so that my stomach would suck in and wouldn't touch the counter edges.

"Haha, yeah.." I muttered, massaging my stomach.

"...What?"

We turned simultaneously to Kiba who stared at us confused, an eyebrow quirked.

"I—"

"Sakura here, got into the best college in the _world_!" Tenten might have exaggerated a bit, but it didn't stop the pride that welled up in my chest.

It was still all too surreal for me to believe that I got into KSU.

"Wow, congratulations!" Kiba smiled and dragged me over to him where he wrapped both of his arms around me tightly, giving me a good squeeze before letting go.

"What? That wasn't a hug!" Tenten protested, slamming a hand on the top of the cashier which caused the cash drawer to pop open. They really needed to get that fixed.

"Hug correctly."

The drawer was slammed shut.

Rolling my eyes, I sat down next to Kiba and the desk bell began ringing.

"Order up!"

One of the waitresses_—_her name was Hinata_—_took the hot slice of cake that came out of the window, followed by a sandwich.

"Good afternoon, Sakura." She stopped for a moment to smile at me and I was about to greet her back until Tenten interjected in the conversation.

"Sakura got into Konoha University!"

Was she going to tell everyone she knew about this? Not that I minded.

"Wow, really?" Hinata's colorless eyes widened a fraction as I blushed and nodded. She congratulated me before getting back to work.

It was Saturday, one of the two days I had off so I wasn't working today, however, Tenten worked every day to help her father. The bell rang again with two coffee's coming out of the window and Tenten ran over to get it.

Silence embraced Kiba and I as he began tapping his fingers on the counter. The noise was in different, yet erratic, beats. It vaguely reminded me of something until I realized that he was drumming the opening ceremony song for football—the only reason I knew that was because the radio in my car sometimes fell on the ESPN channel the rare times I turned it on.

Football. That reminded me of Kiba, and didn't he only come in during my work hours?

"Hey, it's a weekend and I don't work." I told him, slightly pursing my lips and instantly, the drumming stopped.

He looked away before I could blink and his posture tensed. "Uhm, I was on my way back from practice and I saw you pull up."

"Oh really?" I echoed teasingly and placed a hand on his shoulder which he promptly shrugged off, blushing.

That made me frown, because we've known each other for a near two weeks, so why didn't he feel comfortable with a simple touch?

"Kiba's blushing! He _loves _you, Sakura!"

"So, are you going to still be working here? Y'know, since you're going to probably have a dorm and stuff." Kiba questioned, ignoring the jibe from Tenten.

"That's right... _Are_ you leaving?" Tenten inquired when she came closer to us.

I shrugged, ignoring the feeling of my insides dropping in despair.

"It said in the letter that I have to meet with the Dean of the University... I don't know if I'll have a dorm."

Kiba didn't drop the subject, instead he kept pressing on it, adding salt to the wound without realizing it. "But isn't Konoha State too far away?" I noticed Tenten pressing her lips together.

"If you don't get a dorm, you'll have to commute from an apartment then, and—"

"Kiba!" Tenten abruptly cut him off, making him jump and a slight scowl formed on her face. "It doesn't matter, as long as she's happy."

I didn't know whether to comment on the matter or not, but in the end I abstained from saying anything and focused on the halfway filled_—_thanks to Kiba and his football friends_—_college money tip jar that I wouldn't need anymore.

Was I really going to have to quit my job in Desu's?

—

"No. I refuse."

"Mom, I'm nineteen, I can own an apartment."

"No!"

"Mom!"

My mother and I were in the middle of a not-so-heated argument—it was hard to have a serious verbal fight when she's up to her elbows in soap suds and I'm holding a disposable yellow rag to dry the dishes off_—_about me getting a place of my own.

I was trying to get her to agree to let me fly out of the bird's nest to find a nice and cozy apartment right in between the distance of the university and Desu's.

Or maybe an apartment near the bus station. That would work too.

"Absolutely not, Sakura!" She said sternly and handed me a wet dish.

"Why not?" I countered pathetically, but firmly.

"Because there are bad people out in the world, and I'm not exposing you to that!" My mother handed me the last plate and unplugged the sink, letting the water swirl down the drain.

Throwing the rag into the trashcan, I frowned. "Mom, seriously? KSU's too far away."

"You have a car." She said nonchalantly and turned on the sink to wash down the leftover suds and pulled off her yellow rubber gloves which she placed in a cabinet.

"Have you _seen_ the price of gas?"

I turned off the faucet after briefly washing my hands and wrinkled my nose.

She sighed, and leaned her weight on the island of the kitchen. "Sakura, I just don't want to lose you, honey."

My hand rubbed her shoulder consolingly, a part of me feeling horrible for doing this to my mother. "Mom, I'm going to have to grow up."

She turned around and pulled me against her, setting her cheek on the crown of my head. "It just seems too soon."

"If I don't get a dorm, I'll need an apartment close enough to Konoha University, mom. Either way, I'm going to be moving."

There was an obvious sniff.

Inwardly groaning, I slipped out of her grip and looked up at my mother's green eyes that were quickly filling up with tears.

"KSU's a town over! Not a state!"

"It's still a half-hour drive! What about Desu's?"

At the mention of the cafe, my face fell. Shrugging, my mother pulled me back into another hug, clinging on to me as if it were the end of the world.

"Moooom," I sighed.

—

The noise of the cafe in the morning was nearly impossible. There were the distant sounds of plates clinking, coffee's getting refilled, and the steam machine getting used.

"—kura!"

I tore my gaze away from the space of nothing that I was looking at and stared at Tenten.

"What's up? You look like you're a billion miles away," she paused in her sentence and gave me a once over. "And what in the_ world _are you wearing?"

It wasn't hard to tell that she was stifling her laughter and I shot her a halfhearted glare, shifting in my seat to pull down the black pencil skirt I had on. I didn't understand how assistants wore these everyday, they're a huge pain! I can barley move my legs!

"I have to meet the dean today," I replied smoothly and asked for a cinnamon spiced coffee.

"So that means that you have to dress like a secretary?" Tenten stuck her note on the spindle, voicing the order just like I do.

Suddenly, I was self-conscious and I threaded my fingers together, twiddling my thumbs. "Does it really look that bad?"

"No, no! You look very... professional like. It's just that I don't usually see you in these outfits."

Taking in a deep breath, I exhaled slowly and checked the time on the clock by the menu. "Shit! I have like, fourty minutes left!"

That was when the bell rang, and my order came out. Automatically, I was fishing in my zebra print tote bag for my wallet. When I found it I tossed a five dollar bill on the counter and took the coffee from Tenten's hand, rushing out of the cafe while putting the blue straps of my tote on my shoulder.

"Good luck! And don't trip!"

—

I pulled out of the parking lot in the cafe and drove down the street, slightly paranoid because from what I heard, driving in heels is pretty hard, and I didn't really want to get in an accident.

I wasn't really as nervous as I was yesterday to meet the head of the college because after the little crying section with my mother, I reread the acceptance letter over and over again in my room until I felt confident enough. Seriously, who gets a scholarship at KSU except the best?

Stopping at an intersection, I took a quick sip of my coffee and placed it back in the cup holder near the shift stick and grabbed the letter from the dash and opened it, looking at the address for the umpteenth time for today.

"Woo. Konoha State."

A smile formed on my lips and it turned into a grin as I started driving again, remind myself that as each second passed, I was getting closer to the campus of my dreams.

* * *

**Okay, so. I saw Sakura's parents in RTN. I'm keeping her mom in here with pink hair, whatever.**

**Review please.**

_**RANDOM FACT ABOUT THE AUTHOR: I like to shop for school supplies. It's like... I don't even know, I just love it.**_


	4. IV

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

IV.

* * *

"Okay, you can do this." I told myself, inhaling and exhaling deeply. My hands clenched the steering wheel and I slightly jumped up and down in the driver's seat for a moment to get my heart racing before I took my bag, cut off the engine, and got out of the car.

"You got in because of a scholarship, so don't be nervous." I huffed under my breath albeit my legs were slightly shaking as I made my way over to the campus.

Nearly tripping over my own two feet, I cleared my throat, straightened my posture and began walking again. Remember what I said about me not being as nervous as yesterday? Scratch that, I'm a walking earthquake.

I took a moment to sweep my eyes over the courtyard when I realized that I should walk slower if I don't want to scrape my knees.

There was a sidewalk path leading up to the main house of the school, and by the sides of the path was nicely cut grass. It was probably cut not that long ago since the smell of grass still lingered in the air. One big oak tree towered over what I presumed was building A. Next to that building was the main building, and next to that was building B.

Hopefully, I wouldn't have to switch buildings throughout the schedule I get.

While walking up the steep 4 steps to the glass double-doors of the main house, I noticed a few flowers blooming by the rails of the steps.

The online pictures of the campus didn't do justice compared to the real thing.

Pushing the doors open, I was greeted by an eerily empty, yet deep hallway. I pressed my lips in a line and checked the watch I wore_—_what? It looked professional!—that said it was around ten o'clock.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a map of the building posted on a cork board, and felt my nerves spike up again as my gaze fell on the words:_ Dean's Office (Uchiha)._

Okay, Mr. Uchiha. I got this.

—

So, alright. If it wasn't for the bell that startled me, I would have never gotten the guts to go inside the office because I was just standing by the door, hand hovered over the doorknob.

"Ah, Ms. Haruno."

I twirled around to face a man who looked up from the stack of papers he was probably signing. He had black hair that reached his shoulders tied in a loose ponytail, and laugh lines that ran down by his lips. It was odd really, since he didn't tip me as the type of person who'd smile a lot.

"G—Good morning, Mr. Uchiha." I stuttered hopelessly, clearing my throat. Wow, for a dean he was handsome and kind of young!

"Please, sit down!" He declared, standing up from the leather swivel chair behind his desk while I complied and sat down in one of the two seats in front of him.

For a strange reason, it felt like I was in the principals office back in high school.

"Ms. Sakura Haruno." He stated, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Near perfect grades, 3.9 GPA _and_ you help out in after school programs." A slight frown made it's way to his features and for a second I was worried.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Excuse me?" I sputtered out, an incredulous look beginning to form on my face. What's wrong with me? What kind of an idiotic question is that?

"What's wrong with you?" He repeated, enunciating every word slowly and slightly moved so I caught a glimpse of the name plaque on the desk.

_Itachi Uchiha._

"There's nothing wrong with me!"

Itachi looked taken aback for a moment at my abrupt answer, and I admit that I might have replied with more force than necessary but seriously, who asks a question like that?

"Well, there's got to be something wrong with you. Nobody is that near perfect!" He informed me, obviously skeptical of my grades.

I would have blushed from the partial compliment, but I didn't want to seem too immature and the somewhat insulting question kept the heat from getting to my cheeks.

"I just study hard," I said, managing to refrain from using my outside voice. "There's nothing wrong with that." After a brief pause, I added: "And there's nothing wrong with _me_!"

He gave a short chuckle, amused by my antics and shook his head, a few strands of hair falling in front of his eyes.

"Mr. Uchiha, am I going to be offered a dorm?" I inquired, knitting my eyebrows together as I tried to get off the current subject before I flipped shit.

"Unfortunately, you won't be getting a dorm." Itachi brushed a hand through his hair swiftly. "It's the middle of the fall semester so the dorms are all filled up, I'm terribly sorry."

My heart sank. That meant that I was going to have to get an apartment. "Oh, okay."

A moment of silence passed.

"Who is Sakura Haruno?" Itachi asked me, leaning a hand over his desk to obtain something, and that was when I noticed his hair tie was a deep red color that matched the tie of his casual suit.

I let out a noise of confusion and he dropped a file in my lap. It was probably the thing that he was getting off his table.

"Who is this girl?"

I opened the file and my eyes were greeted by a younger reflection of myself from when I got my driver's license at sixteen. The indigo background of the photo made my features pop because of the contrast.

"This is me." I stated and closed the file, puzzled by his questions. What was Itachi Uchiha trying to get at?

"What's her goals? What's her personality? What's her likes and dislikes? What's her background?"

My fingers slid across the smooth material of the beige folder. Who was Sakura Haruno?

"Her goal is to become a doctor." I answered honestly, skipping all the other questions he had asked.

Truthfully, I was a little bit unnerved by the inquires.

To my surprise, Itachi didn't seemed irritated by my answer. He only took the file back and sighed.

"Have you gone to orientation this year?"

"No, they wouldn't let anyone in unless they were approved of being in the school."

"Oh, then I guess we'll have to have someone show you around."

Before I could agree or disagree on the matter, Itachi had already picked up the phone on his desk and dialed a number.

"Haruno Sakura is here. Yes, we met. Uh-huh. Get Sasuke to show her around." He spoke into the receiver and my ears perked up at the mention of another name.

Sasuke?

"Yes I'm sure. Okay."

Then he hung up.

Silence filled the room again, and it was one of those awkward silences that you'd have by sitting down next to your ex-boyfriend. Not that I would have experience in that area—I didn't really date anyone in high school.

It was either study and have no social life, or have a social life and fail. I opted for the former.

A few seconds later, I heard the muffled noise of the loudspeaker going off in the hallway.

I let out a small cough, trying to look busy as I fixed the collar of the button down sheer blouse that I had on. For a moment, I wondered why I was so nervous to come in to meet Itachi! If anything, he was more like a dotting parent than a principal.

Since it was getting uncomfortably hot in the room, I decided that one of us was going to have to spark up small talk or else I'd die from the tension in the room.

"Uhm—"

The door slammed open and I jumped in surprise, knocking off my tote bag that was on the armrest of the chair.

"What an entrance, Sasuke." Itachi laughed humorlessly, narrowing his eyes and folded his arms across his chest.

"You needed to talk to me?" He said, voice laced in aggravation and ignored me as if I was invisible.

I craned my neck to get a look at this 'Sasuke' that would be showing my around campus, and familiarity popped in my mind but I was eighty percent sure I had never seen him before.

"You're going to be showing Sakura around."

"Why?"

"Don't question me, Sasuke."

Then Sasuke glanced at me for a moment and I was startled by his sudden movement, so I looked away quickly, pretending that I found something on Itachi's desk interesting.

"Whatever."

I heard fading footsteps until Itachi nulled out the noise with his voice. "You'd better catch up with him, he's not patient."

_Then why'd you stick him with me? _I thought, picking up my bag and waving goodbye to Itachi. "Goodbye, Mr. Uchiha! Thank you for having me over!"

He waved back, and I was only halfway out the door until I heard his voice once more: "Welcome to Konoha University!"

I couldn't stop the smile that made it's way to me.

—

"Hey! Wait up!" I called out, and Sasuke stopped his long strides as I came up to him, slightly puffing out air.

Try running in heels, that's an exercise.

"Try to keep up," he informed me irritably, continuing his fast pace and I tried to follow along in sync.

"You know where everything is, don't you?" Sasuke asked after a few steps and I rubbed the bridge of my nose for a second, recalling how I had spent a few hours in the online tour of KSU a week ago. My enthusiasm is _huge._

"Well, sort of..." I trailed off as we made it outside to the courtyard. Isn't it better to have someone show you the real thing instead of the picture? "But—"

"Then you don't need me." Sasuke scoffed, pausing in his steps and headed off to building B where I blindingly followed.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"To my class." Even without me seeing his face, I knew that he already had a scowl on his face.

"But you're supposed to show me around!" I countered, staring at his back, baffled at his actions. What kind of a person just ditches the person they're supposed to take care of?

He tsked, however, he didn't stop walking and disappeared in the building.

No matter how shocked and angry I was, I couldn't help but take on the feeling I'd seen him before.

—

"He just ditched you?" Tenten cried, slamming the remote on my mattress. "That's horrible!"

I grimaced at the memory and took the control from her prying grip, changing the channel to something more age appropriate than a kids show about the alphabet.

"What a... What a..." She let out a disgruntled groan, clearly not happy with what Sasuke did.

"It's whatever, Tenten." I sighed, leaning on the headboard of my bed and gave a quick glance at the clock. It was around nine-fifty o'clock and Tenten came over to see how the meeting went.

"No, he's an ass!" She grumbled.

Not wanting to stay on the subject of the previous events of today, I decided to change the topic slyly. "You hang out way too much with Kiba. He's rubbing off on you." My fingers played with the tightening strings of my pajama pants.

"So about Desu—"

"Oh look, something on television!" I interposed, blinking.

"Sakura!"

Sheepishly, I looked back to her. "Tenten."

"Are you going to stay at Desu's or not?"

Sinking into my pillows, I slowly leaned down away from the headboard and looked up at the white ceiling. "Dunno'."

"You know, you can stay in Desu's until you figure anything out, right?"

"I know." I replied meekly, sucking in a few short takes of breath.

"Anyways, you start your new school tomorrow, so I'll get out of your hair." Tenten stood up from my bed and stretched, smiling.

I mimicked her movements and hugged her, patting her shoulder.

"Remember, work tomorrow! Don't be late." She laughed and picked up her shoes that were by the doorway. "I'll help you find an apartment if you need too!"

My hand suggested for her to shut up, moving up and down. "Shhhh! If my mom hears you, she'll have a panic attack!"

"Right." Teten started laughing again.

* * *

**Okay. I don't know. Haha. Sorry for the filler/not-so-good last chapter, but I hope that the SasuSaku interaction in this one will make up for that! I just didn't want the story to go by too fast.**

**RANDOM FACT ABOUT THE AUTHOR: When I eat peperoni pizza, I pick off the toppings, put them in a little pile, eat the pizza, and then the separate pepperonis.**


	5. V

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

V.

* * *

The first thing I noticed about KSU when I parked my car was the crowd of students just loitering around in the courtyard.

Seriously! I had to push my way through the swarm of people and some of them didn't exactly like that. My eyes swept across the terrorizing amount of semi-adults around me when I was in the middle of the campus, not knowing what to do until the bell rang and they immediately filed into different buildings.

Sighing, I started briskly jogging to the main building that held my first class_—_they sent the schedule to me in the mail_—_until somebody rammed into my side.

I fell a few steps to the left but before my legs could give away under me, the person had balanced me by my shoulders.

"Whoops, my bad..."

A gust of wind passed as my eyes met a pair of pale blue ones. I had bumped into a girl! That brought back memories of the day I met Tenten. Maybe I should start wearing a sign that says: _"Don't crash into me!"_

"Uhm, it's okay..." I responded, slightly frowning and shook out of her grip, taking in her physique. She was a petite blonde with sky eyes and didn't look like much of a threat, however, she still looked like one of those girls that was spoiled rotten_—_her Prada bag supported my answer_—_and I didn't typically talk with those girls.

"Are you new?" She asked, a smile passing her face.

My fingers fidgeted with the strings of my sweater, weirded out by her intense gaze. Was it really that obvious that I was new? Well, somebody would remember a girl with pink hair... I should probably dye my hair or something.

"Yeah, I got a scholarship, so that's why I'm here in the middle of the semester." Explaining was unnecessary but it came out of my mouth anyways.

She clicked her tongue and gave me a once over before tilting her head. "Scholarship? You shouldn't tell people that."

"...Why not?"

The bell rang again, and she looked agitated for a moment. "I've got to run! But I'll see you later!"

Without further ado, she slipped out of my vision and I twisted around to see her running to building B. My gaze fell to her feet and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor. How did she run that good in heels? I can't run that good in heels—I can barley walk in heels!

Shaking my head, I rearranged my expression and entered the main building, stopping at the office to get my books that I ordered online. Surprisingly, students were still in the halls of the school and I had to, yet again, push my way through flocks of people.

—

The day had gone by in a blur, since the classes passed by quickly and most of the students were actually nice! Following the blonde girl's advice, I didn't mention to anyone that I was here on a scholarship and I hadn't seen her since.

I didn't even have to switch buildings, which I was satisfied with because I wasn't a person who really like walking, hence my car.

It was now lunch time, and I had learned from a girl in my class named Temari that I could go off campus to eat which I definitely took advantage of and ended up helping Tenten in Desu's.

"Have a nice day!" I said with a smile and took the five dollar bill from the man.

Today was slightly different since I was working the cash register now instead of my regular waitress shift. But I didn't really mind.

"Sakura!"

I twirled on my heel to come face-to-face with Kiba who had on a huge grin.

"Hey." I returned, sidestepping Tenten who danced her way over to a group of people with their food. Literally. Her hips were shaking!

Kiba took a seat in one of the stools and I wrote down his usual, stuck it to the spindle and voiced the order before walking over to him. Working the lunch rush was generally hectic for me, however, customers don't really order To-Go anymore so the minutes went by slowly.

"Why are your roles reversed?" He asked after a while, motioning to Tenten who was taking orders and then proceeded to rub both of his hands together, blowing warm air into them dramatically and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes because it wasn't even that cold outside. It was only November.

"My lunch period is shorter than the community college and Tenten doesn't want me to 'overwork' myself." My shoulders sagged significantly as I air quoted _overwork _while he gave a breathy chuckle.

"That sucks, I won't be able to see you as often."

"Oh shut up, I'm old enough to be your mother!"

"My mom isn't nineteen, stupid."

"Be quiet!" I responded quickly and shot him a glare.

The bell rang and I went over to go get his food before the chef could yell at me for being lazy and when I came back, there was somebody sitting next to Kiba.

"Sasuke?" I stared at him in disbelief and he looked at me for a split second before returning his attention to the menu above my head.

"What are you—"

"You know him?" Kiba interjected and made a face of disgust which I was puzzled at.

"Get me the black coffee," Sasuke demanded and threaded his fingers through his mop of hair. "To go." Obviously.

"Right..."

I headed over towards the coffee machine and brewed him a fresh drink. After a few minutes of him waiting, the coffee machine brewing, plus me pouring the drink into a To-Go cup, I gave him a brown bag that held his coffee inside and he handed me some bills. Suspiciously, I admired how straight they were and the thought of him robbing a bank passed through my mind.

Trying to get rid of the mental picture in my thoughts, I punched in the register code and the drawer popped open. As I got his change I decided to start up some small talk because the air started getting awkward. "So uh, what's your next class?"

"I have Study Hall."

To be honest, I wasn't expecting that answer because Sasuke seemed like the kind of person to take a business class instead of a lounging around period!

"I'll see you back at school!" I gave him the receipt with his fifty cent change and a friendly smile which he didn't return.

When Sasuke was near the door, my College Money bucket must have caught his eye because he looked back at me before fully walking out of the store.

"Why are you socializing with him?"

Maneuvering my way around the counter, I took the bucket under one arm and headed back to my post with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean? He's in the same college I go to."

"That ass?" Kiba snorted, and shook his head. "I can't believe it."

"Kiba," I sighed, placing the College Money fund bank under the cash register and set both of my palms on the marble counter. "What are you getting at?"

He shrugged. "You spilled coffee on him, he got angry and went all apeshit on you. He's an ass."

For a moment, I paused. Sasuke was the one I spilled coffee on? Unwillingly, laughter erupted out of my lips and Kiba just stared at me bewilderingly.

I thought back to the day I met Sasuke—not the day that I drenched him in a hot drink, but the day that he left me alone in school. Had he remembered me and decided to get payback?

Once I stopped laughing, Kiba just puffed out his lips and shook his head yet again.

—

School was already over and I was leaning on a locker (they were quite limited, almost like it was intended for V.I.P's), growing more impatient with each passing second.

I was waiting for Sasuke since I wanted to apologize for the past events but he hasn't come to his locker yet. For a moment my mind went back to the thought I had about him robbing a bank because this kid had a locker_—_which you had to pay for_—_a dorm_—_you have to pay for—and his bills are so crisp!

Right then, said boy came down the hall and I stood up straight, waving him over even though he was already coming to where I was standing.

When he was in front of me, a minute or two passed until he finally spoke up:

"Move."

Caught off guard, I blinked. "Huh?"

"You're blocking my locker." He mentioned blatantly.

His locker. Right.

"Oh." I moved to the next locker and as he entered his combination I started talking. "So uhm, I don't know if you remember me but I spilled coffee on you and I just wanted to apologize."

Sasuke straightened his posture and I waited for a response but instead he turned to look at me and asked, "I forgot my notebook in my last class, do you mind getting it for me?"

Well, maybe this was his way of accepting my apology, making us even, even though he'd deserted me during his 'tour'.

I shrugged and nodded. "Uhm, okay. Where was your last class?"

"East wing, 108."

"I'll be right back then."

He replied with a wave of his hand, too fixated on something in his locker and I sucked my lips into my mouth and walked away.

Finally, I got to the class, waved to the teacher in the room, and grabbed the only notebook there that was on top of the desk near the exit.

"Have a nice day!" I called out to the teacher and went back to Sasuke who was waiting expectantly.

With a smile, I gave him the notebook and he stuffed it in his bag without a thanks and gave me a slight chin-nod. I grabbed my tote bag that was next to his locker and walked in sync with him to the courtyard.

"So where are the dorms?" I questioned, wondering why I hadn't seen any other buildings in the campus.

"Behind the buildings."

And clearly enough, when I tried to look the distance behind the main building, I saw two other structures in back of A and B.

"Haha, never knew that..." I forced a laugh and cleared my throat. "Well, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye." Sasuke said monotonously and headed off to the dorms.

* * *

**Well, Sasuke has started asking questions. Now the story is actually going to pick up in the next chapter and new characters are going to be introduced!**

**Reviews are better than faves and follows.**

**RANDOM FACT ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Whenever I get reviews I get all happy and stuff but when I get a fave or follow, I'm like: "..."**


	6. VI

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

VI.

* * *

"Why is this so damn hard?" I sighed and had a sudden urge to just crumble up the newspaper and chuck it down a garbage can.

Next to me, Tenten laughed. "It can't be that hard, lemme' see."

Before I could protest, the paper was ripped out of my hands and she was already flipping through the apartment listings, looking for good ones nearby KSU.

We were currently in my room, trying to find a place for me to live in for the remaining college years I'd go through before I could get a (real) job and afford a nice house.

My mom was still working—I took a personal day from work and Tenten is on her break right now—so she wouldn't be home to find me doing this and possibly freak out.

After a moment or two, Tenten already circled a few places with the red marker we brought upstairs with us and gave me a smug stare. "Yeah, this is_ very_ hard."

Trying to save my dignity, I responded with: "That's what she said."

"Oh, you disgusting bi—"

—

Stifling a yawn with my hand, I continued to trudge up the entrance stairs and into building B (I had to switch buildings during my schedule after all). It was already near ten o'clock and I stayed up late the previous night researching the apartments I would check out with Tenten, so that meant I was tired. And cranky.

But, I had to shake it off because my period with Tsunade—ohmygod, insert fan-girl attack—was coming up and I needed to be wide awake for that class! First impressions are everything.

Stupid apartments. Speaking of that, my mind drifted off to how I was hiding this behind my mother's back and I started feeling like somebody rammed their fist into my gut. It was guilt, I was sure of it.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Snapping out of my daze, I glanced to my right where the source of the noise came from. There stood a male that was towering over me with his height, he had warm brown eyes that seemed inviting and his jet-black hair was pulled up into a rebelliously spiked ponytail.

"Ehm, what?" I asked, but it came off rather rudely, even if I didn't mean it to.

"You just stopped in the middle of the steps and started staring out into space," he explained, raising an eyebrow and that was when I noticed he had a small silver piercing on there. He didn't seem like the stereotypical KSU student. "I don't think most normal people do that."

Frowning, I shrugged. "I'm not normal then."

A lazy smile fell on his features, and unknowingly, a blush formed on my cheeks despite the mood I was in. If all college boys were this handsome...

My mind flashed to Sasuke, and that was when I decided that all college boys are probably handsome.

"Guess not."

There was a pause.

"Shikamaru."

Confused, I blinked. "What?"

"I was kind of waiting for you to ask for my name, but you never did... Shikamaru's my name."

Nodding, my lips curled into an 'o' shape and we both fell back into silence until I realized that he was waiting for my name also, because most normal people recite their name too out of common courtesy. Huh. Maybe I'm actually not normal.

"Oh! My name's Sakura." I awkwardly shifted my textbooks under my left arm and stuck out my hand for a shake. The wind nipped at my exposed skin instantly and I made a mental note to go ahead and invest in a few gloves.

He shook my hand, still holding that smile. "Nice to meet you." Right after retracting his arm, he lifted his olive green sweater sleeve, checking the time on his Rolex and I wondered if all the students on campus were _that _rich.

"Aa, classes are about to start soon so I'll see you around. Bye."

"Bye, Shikamaru."

"See ya, Sakura."

Without further ado, I spun on my heel and continued walking into the building. When I was reaching to open the double doors, they just busted open without warning and I couldn't believe I hadn't seen the person rushing to the exit/entrance since the doors were made out of glass. Geesh, how oblivious can I get?

My eyes followed the person, half of me wanting to give them a good piece of my mind and the other half saying that I didn't want drama. But all those thoughts were nulled out once I realized who was coming out the door.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to me, recognition flashing in her eyes. "Oh, sorry!" Then she continued to race down the stairs in those heels of her, flailing her hands ungracefully and I was surprised because weren't most rich kids supposed to be the epitome of all things graceful?

"Shikamaru!" The girl shouted and said male twirled around to see who was calling his name. Once he did, she didn't waste any time in punching his arm.

"Ow! You're abusive, Ino!"

So the girl who bumped into me yesterday, her name was Ino. It was a partially easy name to remember.

The pair was at an angle that I only saw them both from their side as they faced each other and Ino had a halfhearted glare burning through his skull.

"You left your binder and I had to flag you down!"

As proof, she lifted a black and green camouflage binder and proceeded to shove it in his chest.

Chuckling, Shikamaru bent down and kissed her forehead tenderly which pulled at my heartstrings in a nice way and I suddenly longed for a boyfriend but pushed that thought away. I needed to focus on my scholarship because if I get one bad grade, I'm probably going to get kicked out and that's the last thing I need.

Plus, Itachi doesn't seem to like me that much since I refused to answer his pointless questions.

I couldn't hear what the couple was saying anymore but Shikamaru walked away after a brief hug against his protest and Ino turned to look at me directly in the eye.

Embarrassed to have been caught staring, I adverted my attention to the metal handle of the double doors, pretending to admire them. But seriously, who admires handles?

I contemplated in going in the building but that was decided for me when she opened the door in a flash and held it open for me.

"Care to go in?"

Obliging, I muttered a thanks before walking and she fell in step with me, pushing through crowds of people.

"My name's Ino!"

"Sakura."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed her smile falter for a second at my blunt answer. It's still morning, I'm tired, and she's not a handsome male. Don't judge me.

Boys can cheer up everything, don't deny it.

"Uhm, what class do you have next, Sakura?"

"Study—" A yawn escaped my mouth and cut me off. "—Hall." I continued.

Nearly every class I was going to choose to fill up the gaps in my schedule were either filled, or I had already chosen, so I decided to at least have one study hall.

I didn't really like that particular class, considering I'd most likely take advantage of it and skip out on homework at night, and have to rush to finish it in that free period. However, I'm going to try and be responsible this year and finish all my homework on time!

"Me too, maybe we could sit together even if we don't have the same homework to do?"

"Okay, I don't mind." Trying to give her a smile, the corners of my lip twitched upwards and she giggled.

"You're not a morning person, are you?"

"Nope, what gave it away?" I joked, pulling at a stray strand of yarn of my scarf and yanked it out with a slight laugh.

"Well, for one, you have crust in yo—"

"I do?" My voice interjected quickly and I started rubbing my eyes, self-conscious.

"Hahaha! No! Gullible much?"

"Ha _ha._" It came out sarcastic, and she laughed again.

—

When I entered the class it was almost like being in the library. Everyone was quiet and there wasn't really a teacher there, so I was surprised at the amount of trust and freedom the university puts in their students. A lot of people seemed to be doing their homework—obviously, they weren't here on a scholarship!—but I wasn't going to be one of those kids. Nope.

"Ah, crap." Ino mumbled, searching through her purse momentarily before looking at me. "I forgot I have to print out this essay and add a few things." She told me, holding a yellow and blue flash drive in her palm.

Waving my hand dismissively, I shook my head. "It's alright."

"Alright?" Ino echoed, sounding unsure of me being 'alright' with her leaving but she shrugged. "Okay, see you."

After that, I scanned the room to try and see if I knew anybody. I had made a few friends in the time I've been here so I _should _find somebody I would know.

Just as I thought that, my eyes fell on another spiky coal haired boy. Should I sit next to him? I continued to look through the faces in the class. Yeah, nobody else I knew was here. What a nice coincidence—not.

And so, that's how we got to where we are now, with him kind of hating my existence and me just trying to get my reading book out of my tote bag but I'm actually trying to avoid his glower.

Yeah.

I cleared my throat while I awkwardly searched through my bag. "I never knew you were in this class," I commented and finally found my book and placed it on the table.

People glanced at me with glares that told me to shut up.

"I told you that I was in this class the time I was in Desu's," he stated flatly.

"Oh yeah... I forgot. I have a horrible memory!"

"Apparently. You couldn't even remember when you spilled coffee on me."

I wanted to frown but I decided against it since I already frowned once or twice today and I didn't want to get wrinkles. Seriously.

"I apologized for that, didn't I?"

"Hn."

"What?"

"Hn." He repeated, looking back down at his own book. It took me by shock that he wasn't doing homework like most people but what shocked me even more was that he was reading a manga!

"I didn't know you liked that." If he did like it, I would have expected him to be a closet-manga lover instead of him being so openly about it.

Sasuke glanced back at me and that was when I noticed how nice his eyes were. They were this deep shade of black. But no, they weren't your normal black shaded onyx. These were murky and foggy, almost as if I was staring into a cavernous pit of darkness. And I could see my reflection perfectly in them, so I guess that was a brownie point also.

"Hn."

"That grunt is annoying."

"_Hn._"

Sighing, I bit my cheek to prevent a smile from slipping on my face. My conversational instincts told me that he would get annoyed if I started smiling at his childishness. He was acting like a five-year old, though!

"So, what made you apply to this school?"

There wasn't a response so I glanced up to find him looking irritated. Sasuke doggy-eared the current page he was on and shut it.

"It's a family business. I had to."

"Family business?"

"My brother's the dean." Sasuke replied bluntly and I didn't believe him at first until my eyes landed on the cover of the manga he was reading. His name was written in black marker but my eyes strained to see his small handwriting.

_Sasuke Uchiha._

I instantly stiffened and he took notice of this because a smirk fell underneath his nose. If Itachi didn't like me, there was a small chance that Sasuke would (especially after I spilled coffee on him), and that would be bad.

Having two people of the Uchiha business hate me? Oh _no._ Don't even want to think about it!

"You didn't know, huh?" He inquired, folding his hands on the table and placed his chin on top of his intertwined fingers.

"Nope," I returned, slightly miffed. "But I guess that's really neat."

Right now, I wanted to shoot myself in the head. Neat? Who says neat anymore? C'mon! Even Sasuke rose an eyebrow!

"You know, I'm kind of thirsty... Would you mind getting me something to drink from the vending machines? Water?"

To be honest, I had no idea where the vending machines were, but I nodded and took off,_—_even though there was this huge percent of my inner self just refusing profusely, demanding that he'd get his own damn water—and said I'd be back in a minute or two. I even forgot to ask him for money!

Why am I doing this you ask? Well, that's an easy question to answer, I'm sucking up and being a major kiss-ass! Like I said before, I didn't want to get on the bad side of the Uchiha's! Who would?

Finally, I found the vending machines after walking for a few minutes around campus. I was pretty sure that the machines could be in the buildings also, but I didn't really want to go searching aimlessly in the halls.

It turned out that the only ones outside were by the dorms and I took out my wallet that was in my pocket, placed the two dollars in_—_what a rip-off_—_and hit the water option. There was a dull _thud_ when the bottle hit the bottom of the machine and fell out into the curved metal slot.

I grumbled incoherently under my breath all the way back to study hall about vending machines charging way too much and when I entered the class I saw a blonde male in my seat next to Sasuke, chattering away animatedly_—_to the irritation of many people_—_while Sasuke just looked annoyed but amused at the same time.

But that could just be me. I haven't seen many facial expressions from that male.

* * *

**School started. Ugh. School. My teachers suck. Except for my English and Civics teacher. Yeah.**

**Review please!**


	7. VII

**Mended**

_Love __is __life,  
__and __if __you __miss __love...  
__You __miss __life._

VII.

* * *

Basically, I only walked back to my (now taken) seat next to Sasuke because of two reasons. Firstly, my bag was there and secondly, I needed to give Sasuke his water.

God, I sounded like a maid or something.

"Why hello there," the blond greeted me and sent a charming smile my way, baring his shiny white teeth. "Do you need something?"

I couldn't help but return the grin, his happiness radiating off his skin and jumping onto me even if it still was morning. "Yeah, you're kind of in my seat."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows and exchanged brief glances between Sasuke and I before his eyes widened.

"Woah!" He yelled, shooting up from the chair and most of the people in the class commanded for him to be quiet, which he returned with a sheepish look.

After the class decided he was quiet enough and they returned to their homework, the boy turned to Sasuke with a glare. "I never knew you had girl friends! Especially cute ones!" He whispered, raising an eyebrow.

Tilting my head, I thought over what the kid said. Girlfriends? Plural? Was Sasuke some kind of player?

Sasuke scowled at the boy and then took the water-bottle I held out to him without so much of a thank-you. "Naruto, I'm not dating anybody. Don't be such an idiot."

Naruto, the boy, made a noise of confusion before realizing his mistake and pursed his lips, making him look like a fish with whiskers—a catfish.

"No, no! I meant girl friends, as in friends that are females!"

Sasuke sighed and leaned back in his chair whilst I quickly took my bag that wasn't that far away from Naruto's feet and slung it around my shoulder, thinking that I could probably just help Ino with her essay.

Naruto seemed to notice me trying to leave and he slammed his palm on my shoulder, possibly not knowing that his hand was really heavy. He gave me another heart-warming smile and shook a few strands of hair that wasn't gelled up like the rest of his hair, out of his face.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, who are you?"

"Sakura Haruno."

He batted his lashes a few times, staring at me from under them. "What a pretty name for such a pretty girl."

Unbeknownst to me, a blush formed on my cheeks and Naruto must have taken that as a sign so he could continue flirting with me, but to be honest, I'm not that good at flirting!

Like I said before, I didn't spend my time in school flirting so leave me alone!

"I just noticed that your name could become prettier if it had my last name in it," he moved his hand off my shoulder and draped it on that part of my body instead. "Sakura Uzumaki, does that sound great, or does that sound great?"

I gave him a small smile and shuffled out of his hold awkwardly, clearing my throat.

"Sure, okay... But I sort of have to go now and—"

"No you don't, see?" Naruto protested and took an empty chair from a half-filled table and placed it in between Sasuke's seat and my old seat.

Said boy shot daggers at the blond, obviously not happy with the arrangement of the chairs and I was about to leave but Naruto, however, pushed me into the chair effortlessly.

Frowning, I shifted, and Naruto took the seat by me (my used-to-be one), smiling wildly.

—

It turned out that Naruto is actually pretty funny and charming, and so that led into me inviting him to hang out at Desu's and that led Naruto to inviting Sasuke also.

Right now, I'm in one of my classes, just wondering why I didn't just leave! I mean, if I didn't want to sit by Sasuke and Naruto, then I didn't have to, right?

Well... maybe it's because my mother raised me to be polite and not refuse an offer from anyone.

Stupid manners! Who invented them anyways— I'll be sure to give them a piece of my mind!

Sighing, I adverted my gaze back to the teacher before I fail this supposed 'test' he's going to give the next time I have him (thank God I only have him once a week!) so I'd better pay attention or get kicked out of my dream school.

Quickly, I look at the clock and quietly counted down the minutes before I'd get to see Tsunade!

It was next period, and we only had a few minutes left in Asuma's class!

Suddenly, there was a small ping and someone began speaking over the loudspeaker. I recognized the voice as Mr. Uchiha, because one does not just forget a voice that deep and draggy—in a good way! If that makes sense and all.

"Pardon the interruption, students of KSU, but will Haruno Sakura, please report to the headmaster's office. Haruno Sakura, please report to the headmaster's office. Again, pardon the interruption."

It took me a moment or two to realize that this Sakura girl was indeed me and I reluctantly stood up and the image of me leaving Konoha State flashed through my mind.

Worriedly, I slung my bag over my shoulder and slid my binder and books off the black table before walking out of the class, ignoring a few looks people gave me.

They still didn't know that I was here on a scholarship, and I have yet to ask Ino why I can't tell them that fact. It always seemed to slip my mind somehow.

My mind racked for reasons that I could be getting in trouble for before quickening my pace because I seriously wanted to be in Tsunade's class. I had been nice to all of the teachers so far, and I hadn't gotten into any drama with the girls in the university...

Sasuke!

But wait, how would he have gotten me into trouble if I've done nothing but kiss the ground he walks on? Okay, that was an over exaggeration... You get my point, though!

Just as I reached out and touched the doorknob, the bell rang. To be honest, it wasn't even much of a bell. Just the same ping before the loudspeaker goes off!

Frowning, I entered the room and surpassed the urge to just slam the door behind me and make it fall off its hinges. That would probably get me kicked out.

My eyes scanned the room and the only person I saw inside was Itachi. No Sasuke, and no teacher, and no random, snotty girl.

Itachi looked up from whatever he was doing and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose (he has glasses?) and gave me a polite smile.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Uchiha?" I questioned and felt my left eye slightly twitch.

Stop smiling, you bastard! You're making me miss the only class I really want to go to—and I only get it once a week!

"Ah, Sakura-san." His hands shuffled around the desk for a minute before grabbing a stack of papers (and I do mean a _stack_! How many pages were in that? Twenty? Forty?) and called me over.

Upon further inspection, I saw the highlighter yellow colored stick-it note that read: _ID __card __picture, _and there was a room number next to it.

"Take these," Itachi began and placed the papers in my outstretched palms and they nearly fell because of the unexpected weight they placed on my hands. "And fill them out, then afterward, go take your ID card picture!"

Oh yeah, ID cards. In this college, you have to have them on you everywhere you go in the university. It doesn't matter if you have them in your fanny-pack or if you wear them around your neck, but you just need to be ready to whip it out if a teacher wants to see it.

The ID card just has 4 major things. Your section color, (in this case, since I'm a freshman, I'll be red. Next year I'm going to be yellow!) your name, dorm number, and birthday.

"What are the papers for?"

He gave me a 'reassuring' wave and shook his head. "They're just some random forms all students need to fill out. Don't worry! It's a bunch of health care things."

For a dean, he acts surprisingly childish.

"You can fill them out over there," Itachi pointed to an unoccupied desk in the corner of his office, with one of those pens that you see at the bank. You know, those built in ones with the chain attached to them so that people don't steal it? Hey, they're some fancy pens!

Well, now I'm over my kind of anxiety fear of getting kicked out for no apparent reason. All Itachi needed me to do was sign a few papers! How dramatic was I?

I walked to the desk and gave a quick glance at the clock. I could probably make the last few minutes of Tsunade's medicine class if I filled out all the papers really quickly!

Getting myself settled in, my vision swept down the first page and I took the pen in my hand, ready to sign my name until Itachi interrupted me.

"Oh, by the way! After you're done with those, I have these emergency forms you have to fill out also!"

This _bitch! _

—

"So he just dumped a few papers on you?" Kiba asked.

"Yes! Isn't that horrible?"

"I don't know. I think I like this guy—OW!"

I clenched my teeth and huffed before walking around the counter to take another persons order (one that won't _harass_ me). Kiba's chuckle could be heard and I rolled my eyes and adverted my gaze back to the customer.

"Wha—"

"No, no, no!"

Somebody pushed me out of the way and I opened my mouth to yell at them because that would've been the _nth__time_somebody bumped into me but the words left my mouth when I saw that it was Tenten.

"Tenten?" I curiously asked once she got the order and we were walking back to the spindle. "What the hell?"

"Saks, you should take a break! Aren't your dates coming any minute? I don't want you to run the risk of getting coffee or food spilled on your pretty shirt!" She explained, sort of.

"Dates?" Kiba piped up and rose an eyebrow. He was leaning on both his elbows and looking intently at me.

"They're not my dates," I shot a hard look at Tenten and shifted my weight to my other foot, unnerved by his scrutinizing eyes. "We're just hanging out."

There was a slight pause and I swore I saw Kiba frown but it was just for a spilt second because before I could even blink, he was smiling again.

"I have football game coming up this week and you can go, right Sakura?"

"Hm," I thought about my schedule for the whole week and I wasn't busy, plus this week was going to be amazing since my classes weren't that long and I could leave earlier than usual! "I can go!"

The smile turned into a grin and I laughed, loving how Kiba was always Kiba-like. With his pierced ear, those blushing triangles on his face, his mussy hair, and his worn-and-torn converse. He was unchanging, always himself, something I envied because, hell, I can't go a week without changing my nail polish color!

"Ah—_hem_!_"_

Kiba and I turned to look at Tenten who we barley noticed was there during our little staring contest. She had her arms folded over her chest and her right foot was tapping on the wooden floor.

"Oh yeah," Kiba smirked. "You can come too, Tenten."

"Why Kiba I would love..."

I tuned them out when the entrance slash exit door was opened, the chimes clinking and rubbing against each other with a melodious jingle.

There were two people entering the café, one looking around curiously, as if he had never been here before and the other with his hands stuffed in his pockets leisurely, heading to a table—they were my 'dates' as Tenten called them.

"Ah, there's Sasuke and Naruto. I'll go get their orders."

And soon, I did that. Naruto ordered the ramen soup, sprite and two slices of cheesecake (for himself, 'cause he made it clear he wasn't going to share with the 'teme') while Sasuke just ordered fries and a glass of water.

"God, Sakura! You have some hot friends!" Tenten told me and gave me a thumbs up before taking her order from the kitchen window and I stuck my note on the spindle along with my own order (a slice of hazelnut cake and hot chocolate), voiced it, and caught Kiba's brownish eyes.

There was a disapproving glint in them and it sort of made my stomach stir.

"You're with the guy who you spilled coffee on?"

I sighed. "No, Naruto, the blond kid, just made him tag along. Don't be a grouch, it doesn't look cute."

That made his spirits lift up quickly. "So I'm normally cute."

Rolling my eyes, I started undoing the knot of the straps on the small of my back and around my neck before folding the green apron and bending down to place it under the counter.

I noticed my old 'College Money' tip jar and I smiled before placing the clothing item beside it and came up just as the small bell rang.

"Bye, Kiba." I said as I grabbed the food that was on two separate trays.

"Bye, babe."

Scrunching up my nose, I made a move to hit him and he recoiled and barked a laugh because I couldn't possibly hit him with my hands full of food and a receipt in my mouth.

"Bastard." I mumbled and walked away. Kiba knew I didn't mean it, though. We'd always joke around like that.

—

After a while of joking, teasing, and laughing, (Naruto and I, of course! Sasuke just sat there broodingly, eating his french fries.) Naruto informed us that all that ramen, sprite, and cake didn't sit right with him and was an unhealthy choice of food and had to go to the bathroom—too much information, yes, I know!

So, that left Sasuke and I alone.

My eyes looked around for Kiba, but he wasn't there anymore of course, and I spotted Tenten taking orders and the clock that was above her head. I was actually astonished that I had taken a 3 hour 'break', well it wasn't even a break anymore! The hell? Why hadn't Tenten stopped me? I locked eyes with her when she looked up and gave me a knowing wink.

Shaking my head I laughed silently and looked back to Sasuke who was staring back at me.

"Sasu—"

"Hey, do you mind paying for my food? I left my wallet at home."

"What?" I questioned, obviously surprised. Who asks a girl to pay for them? And so bluntly at that?

"I left my wallet at—"

"I heard you! But, the thing is," I sheepishly smiled. "I only have enough money for myself."

And that was the truth, because if I'm working, I don't really need to bring that much money to work!

"You work here don't you?" Sasuke pressed on and folded his hands on the table. "You can get a discount or whatever, right?"

I frowned. Didn't this guy understand? "Yes, but that means I still have—"

"So just do it."

"Sasuke... I—"

"I'm back~" Naruto plopped down next to me unexpectedly and patted his pockets, slightly wetting them because he had just recently washed his hands.

"Damn it," he cursed. "Sasuke, can you take care of my bill? I left my wallet at home."

I gaped. How the hell did both of them leave their wallets at home? And what's up with everyone cutting me off? It's annoying!

Sasuke rolled his eyes and took out a black leather wallet and threw down a few bills. What the fuck?

"I thought you didn't—"

"Ah, Sakura-chan! We have to go!"

I turned to see Naruto looking down at a watch (No Rolex?) and he was already standing up, dragging Sasuke along with him.

"We should hang out again Sa..." The shut door cut Naruto's voice off and I blinked, wondering what just happened and I didn't know if he meant Sasuke or me since his voice stopped at "Sa," but I guess it was directed to me.

But again,

what the fuck?

* * *

**OHMYGOD. I'VE FORGOTTEN HOW TO WRITE SASUKE. WOE IS ME.**

**School sucks. For real. By the way, a few of you guys have PM-ed me, asking for me to read your stories and whatnot... AND AS FLATTERED AS I AM, I've actually stopped reading stories online. I'm trying to go back to reading books. Sorry.**

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!**


	8. VIII

**Mended**

_Love __is __life,  
__and __if __you __miss __love...  
__You __miss __life._

VIII_._

* * *

"So, y'gon move in?"

I turned to look at the lady and nodded, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear with a small smile before sweeping my eyes over the small apartment loft.

Truthfully, it wasn't the greatest or most amazing apartment I've seen, and it wasn't the biggest place to live in either. But, I could afford it and that was probably the most important thing to me. Well, that, and the reason that I don't really believe there are any psychotic serial killers in this building.

"M'kay, when?"

Returning my gaze back to the woman, I slightly pursed my lips and thought for a minute.

My mother still didn't know about me searching for a place to live in and I wanted to get that over with already, and I was kindofsortof slightly packed up ever since I saw this place in the newspaper a few days ago. I knew that I was going to get this place... Or beg for it. Either way, I knew I was going to get it.

"Uhm, I'll try to get all of my things in here tomorrow. Is that okay?" I asked, dropping my hand from my ear to tug my oversized jean-jacket closer to my body. It seemed as if it was getting colder within each passing minute outside, and the open window didn't really help my case.

"M'kay," She lazily nodded and tossed me the keys which I caught without much trouble. "Rent's due th' 19th of every month."

Turning my attention back to the old dining set and living room objects that were already placed in the loft (just as mentioned in the ad) I nodded. "Right. The 19th."

—

There was a loud slapping noise when my mother's hand dropped down on the wooden counter of my new apartment and I flinched.

"God, Sakura! I can't _believe _that you went behind my back and just..." She heaved and ran a reddened hand through her hair. "I'm _so_ disappointed in you."

It felt like a freight train hit my stomach and my face fell. Somehow, those words were worse than anything that could possibly happen right now—like her possibly smacking the hell out of me—and I frowned. "Mom, I'm sorry but—"

"No buts." She firmly told me and I grew stiff. There was a hint of malice underlying her tone and through my years of living in her home, I knew better than to talk back _even_ if I'm nineteen and a young adult.

I had told my mother that I was going to take her to see Tenten's new apartment, however, when I finally popped the news that this was my apartment when she asked where Tenten was, she wasn't too happy with that.

A second of silence held itself in the air until I gave a short exhale and shook my head.

"Mom." She didn't look at me, finding the small counter much more interesting. "Mom, _mom_! I'm _nineteen_. I kind of figured that I should move out of my parent's house and just... Live on my own. You know?"

"No," my mother finally looked up; lips pressed in a thin line. "I _don__'__t _know, Sakura. You know why? Because you shouldn't have gone and gotten an apartment without my consent and I don't understand why you did it. I don't."

Tears formed at the corners of her eyes and threatened to spill just as her voice was breaking. "Do you not like living at home anymore? Is that it, honey?" Her arms were open, expecting a hug and I really didn't want to walk into them.

My sad emotions weren't something I wore on my sleeves, knowing very well that people get hurt by showing them and I learned that by crying nonstop when my mother told me my father was deceased. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I cried because I was sad, nor the last time I was _seriously_ angry ever since the news. I swallowed hard and bit my lower lip as her arms dropped.

"What did I do wrong, Sakura? Tell me."

Trying not to be bothered by my breaking heart because my mother was so hurt by my actions, I shook my head. "You did nothing wrong, mom. I just... I needed to..."

I was at a loss for words and I didn't know what to tell her.

"I'm really sorry, mom."

—

I was sweeping the café floor when Sasuke walked in. It was already closing hours and Desu's was deserted, excluding myself, the oddly colored haired girl who was supposed to lock up.

"Sorry Sasuke, we're closing."

Either he didn't hear me, or didn't care 'cause he went and sat down on the counter stool. Frowning, I leaned the broom on one of the walls and headed towards him. Dean's brother or not, I'm too tired— mentally and physically— to be dealing with his bullshit right now.

"Did you hear me? We're closing."

He rose an eyebrow, probably just for show and looked around for a second. "We're? I only see you in this café."

Rolling my eyes, I held my tongue from saying something rude. "Fine. _I__'__m_closing up. That means no more drinks or food until tomorrow."

Sasuke's face remained impassive and he didn't bother making a move to get off the stool. "Get me a plain black coffee."

Knitting my eyebrows together a soft scowl rested on my lips. "The shop is closed."

"Listen," he told me calmly. "You wouldn't want your scholarship at KSU to disappear, right? So cooperate."

I couldn't believe my own ears. Was he threatening me? The shock must have been clear on my face because he had a smirk on his features.

"Like I said, my brother's the dean, so that means if I'm having trouble with a particular student—per say, _you_. He'll take care of that."

"You can't do that," I retaliated, however, I still felt my heart beat go up a few notches. What if he could do that? Would my hard work in getting into that school go to waste?

"Yes, I can. Now shut up and get me the coffee."

After unlocking the kitchen door, making him the drink without poisoning it, and giving it to him, we were now both in silence except for the occasional sipping of Sasuke.

"Can you hurry up?" I asked him. "I have to go home and..."

My voice seemed to become lost. Why was I in such a rush to get home? All I had waiting for me over there was a half-filled closet waiting to be packed with my other clothes and a resent filled mother.

"You can leave," Sasuke slowly informed me. "I'm not holding you hostage."

"And leave you here alone? I think not." I scoffed and ignored the roll of his eyes.

We welcomed silence with open arms as we fell into it again. Trying to occupy my mind, I did a mental checklist of the things I had to do before I locked up and it seemed like I did every task. And Sasuke was like, halfway with his coffee. Who drinks that slowly anyways?

"What do you have to do when you go home?"

Adverting my full attention to him, I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You said that you had to go home and do something, but you never finished the sentence. Why are you in a rush?"

"Why do you care?" I instantly took that back as soon as the first few words escaped my lips. "Wait—I take that back, I didn't mean to—"

"Just merely curious is all." He explained, not caring about my last sentence.

I blinked once more, and before I could help it, the words tumbled out of my mouth. First came: "It's my mom." And then came the rest of the explanation, even if I tried to close my mouth.

"I wanted to move out of my mom's house, like any normal nineteen year old, right? So, I looked for an apartment and found a decent one, told my mom and she just totally freaked on me. She just started yelling and screaming, and... I dunno', I have to finish packing to get out of there. It just feels like I'm suffocating in that house now. The sooner I leave, the better, yeah?"

I inhaled deeply, wondering how I said the run-on sentence without breaking.

I glanced at Sasuke who was just staring at me with that usual blank expression on his face. He took a sip from the now-cold mug before placing it back down but never took his eyes off me, which made me nervous.

"Maybe," he began and stood up from the stool. "Maybe you guys should talk it out."

Then he was nearly halfway out the door until he paused and flipped the open-slash-closed sign over, the red '_CLOSED'_ letters popping up outside so that nobody could come in anymore and that was when I realized it was on_ 'OPEN'_ this entire time.

"Night..." I mumbled as his input (can you believe it? He gave me advice) sank in.

—

"Mom?" I called out, walking into the lit home and heard the faint noise of running water.

It smelt like pine trees, so that obviously meant she had finished mopping and sweeping and spraying and sweeping again. That was just how my mother liked to clean things.

I headed into the kitchen where I found her washing the utensils, familiar yellow rubber gloves peeking out from the white of the soap suds.

There was a feeling of déjà vu that washed over me, remembering the last time we fought about my apartment was the day we were washing dishes.

I walked over to her and grabbed the disposable rag she was using and started to dry the accumulating pile of wet forks first.

"Listen," I started. "I'm sorry about moving out mom. If you don't want me to, then I won't. I'll just tell the lady that I don't want the apartment anymore."

She paused in soaping up the last utensil, and returned to the task a split second later.

"I'm sorry. I overreacted."

The faucet was shut off and I froze for a moment. She was sorry? My mother?

Mom sighed and pulled off the gloves with a pop and placed them in her usual cabinet as I resumed drying the last fork and moved on to the pile of spoons.

"Your apartment was very nice." She admitted and gave me a soft smile. "I'm sure my grandchildren will love the place."

Flushing, I ducked my head in embarrassment. "Mo_—____om!_"

—

I flipped the light switch on from the living room, giving the area some life.

Gosh, I was tired! Hauling 4 near-popping-open luggage bags up 3 flights of stairs wasn't that easy, let me tell you. Plus, nobody helped me!

Tenten was sleeping (I wasn't going to make her help me, she's had a full day!), I didn't know where Kiba lived, and my mother, well, I don't want to put any pressure on her back.

Huh, maybe I should make some more friends.

Sighing, I shut the door behind me and made sure it was locked before gliding a hand over one of the bare pastel green walls of the apartment. I'll get started tomorrow. I'm way too tired right now.

Unhooking one of the locks on my overused black leather luggage bag, I opened it and pulled out my old comforter blanket and a pillow, taking it to _my_ bedroom in _my_ house. Er, apartment loft.

Well, it was a very nice one bedroom and bathroom, kitchen, living room apartment loft. Kind of roomy too. And only four-hundred and twenty dollars exact a month. It may seem a bit much for my first apartment, but I make around seven hundred dollars monthly at Desu's. Thank God for minimum wage and (even if I hate them) my working hours.

Slipping under the covers, I slightly fluffed my pillow and snuggled under the warmth now that the chilly November air didn't come in through that used-to-be open window.

However, the rent didn't include the heating bills, water bills, and cable bills. Turning on my side, I wondered how much the electricity cost and if I'd be able to afford it all. I knew that satellite cost about sixty dollars, and reassured myself that I remembered the woman said heating and water would be provided without paying, since I wasn't bringing much money in the apartment. Electricity, such as phone bills and television, I would have to handle by myself.

I shut my eyes. I could handle this. I could.

* * *

******Sakura finally got her apartment. WOOP. Hey, I haven't gotten any of your reviews in my email... I kept checking it and was like: "AW, NOBODY LIKES THIS STORY ANYMORE. DANG IT." But then I saw there were new reviews when I came to read over a chapter of the story, and I was all confused... Wtf is up with FF not sending them to me? HOWEVER, I SO LOVE EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS. HUGGLES. BTW, I'm super sorry for the not-so-amazing SasuSaku interaction but I'm halfway done with the next chapter and lemme' tell you. LOADS OF INTERACTION. SRSLY. And a lot of you guys (many of the ones that asked me to read their fanfics) asked for my age. Haha, are you that curious? I guess I'll tell you... Or not. Who knows? INSERT-WINKY-FACE-HERE.**

******REVIEW REVIEW REVIEWWW.**


	9. IX

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__you miss life._

IX

* * *

Sighing, I trudged down the steps of the main building and started to head over across the campus with my Anatomy and Physiology binder tucked neatly under my right arm and my bag over my left shoulder.

As much as I hated it—that class was a _mandatory _course for me to take in KSU just to have the experience with it in case my medical field didn't think I was qualified enough.

The two hours I spent in there wore me out.

While walking, I saw Sasuke leaning by the gate with Naruto out of my peripheral vision and I wanted to thank him for the advice yesterday. Swiftly, I changed directions from going out the left of the gate to the right where he was.

"Sasuke," I smiled once I was there and he blinked, not even having to turn to around because as soon as I was a few steps away from invading his personal space, he jerked his gaze from Naruto to me.

"Sakura!" Naruto flung himself at me, wrapping his slender arms around my neck and burying my face into his chest.

All I smelt was Irish soap and deodorant as I tried to pull back but he kind of had me in a headlock and started jumping up and down much to my dismay.

I learned that Naruto Uzumaki was one of those people that anyone can be friends with and everybody knew his name. He was charming and outgoing and loud, all while being adorably cute, reminding me of a fox.

"She can't breathe, dead-beat." I heard Sasuke say and Naruto instantly let go of me so I could compose myself, even if I now had a flushed face and mussed hair.

He was a true sweetheart, despite his stupid moments.

"Hi Naruto." I shook my head at him with a soft smile and adverted my attention to Sasuke. "Uhm, I just wanted to thank you."

"For?" He rose an eyebrow, even though I was utterly sure that he knew exactly what I was talking about.

"For you know... Giving me advice."

"Oh." Sasuke nodded and shrugged. "Okay."

There was a pause and I waited for him to say something more, however, he never did and I cleared my throat.

"...Kay, I'm going to go now. Bye." I waved to them and started to walk back to my destination but Naruto stopped me.

"Where are you going?"

"Work."

He frowned. "Ew, work?"

Nodding, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "I need to work so I can pay rent."

"Rent?"

Now do you see what I mean by stupid moments?

"Mhm, I live in an apartment nearby, not in the dorms."

His azure eyes lit up and one of his hands pressed down onto my shoulder. "Oh, can we visit—we'll visit! What's your address?"

Blinking, I stared at him and ran the entire sentence he said through my mind once more and broke it down into coherent pieces.

"Uhm, I.." I hesitated for a minute.

Sure, my apartment was already set up, thanks to yesterday where I had no classes and (shhh) didn't bother going to work even if I had free time. So basically, I just lounged around in my pink Hello Kitty pajama pants and a long sleeved black shirt with a cup of Sage tea in my hand.

Naruto and Sasuke couldn't do much harm to my place, right? I mean—it wasn't like they were strangers (well, technically, they _are _because I hardly know them) who wanted to rape me, or something. I know them.

"Sure."

—

Right now, it's my lunch period (even though I have no more classes after this. Party hard) so I'm going to go into Desu's to work, even though Tenten said that I didn't have to.

Maybe I just felt guilty for yesterday, but I went in and found—guess?—Kiba in his usual stool chair.

"Hey, Kiba." I greeted him and pulled off my gray hoodie that had a graphic of the clouds just before dusk in a circle on the front. It was probably my most cherished clothing material because it's oversized, and pretty, and comfortable, and just... so right for November.

"Sakura. You're late." He informed me with a lopsided smile and I shot him a look.

"Am not!"

I never had to clock in at work because my hours were regularly the same and I've been granted the trust of the boss from working here for quite some time.

"I kidd, I kidd." Kiba held his hands up defensively and there wasn't any reason for a smile to make it's way on my lips, but it did anyways.

After that, I tied on my apron, then got down to business in taking orders; in voicing them; in sticking them on the spindle; in getting the food out.

I still had some talk time with Kiba as soon as the lunch rush started to slow down. I finally caught a glimpse of Tenten when Kiba started to drink his never-changing order of iced mocha and she waved at me, and I mimicked her.

"The game's tomorrow, by the way."

It took me a moment to mull over what he just said and then I remembered Kiba invited me to one of his games, (he's playing against my old high-school. Boo!) and then I nodded. Tomorrow was Saturday, I should be free.

And work free, thank goodness. Even if I didn't work yesterday (I came in for lunch rush, then Tenten shooed me away like, ten minutes later. It doesn't count then, right?) all that standing on the job thing is genuinely doing a number on the soles of my feet.

"Did Tenten tell you she'd go?" I asked him, wondering if she could take her Saturday off also.

He shrugged, and responded noncommittally: "I think." Then Kiba paused and tilted his head. "But I don't really care about her—don't tell her I said that—because the only person I seriously want to go, is you."

That made me stop and stare at him for a second with a forming blush on my cheeks. He seriosuly needed to stop flirting with me because I wasn't looking for a relationship right now!

"I'll go. It's going to be held at your school?" I questioned, trying to slyly change the subject.

"Nah," Kiba took a bit of his red-velvet slice as if he hadn't just made me melt a few seconds ago. "Your old school. Which, by the way, we're going to kick their asses. Sorry."

As a former arsenal of my high-school, I was familiar with the sporting events and I wasn't all that confident about Kiba's school winning.

We had big, buffed up seniors and some juniors, and quarterbacks that were fast and quick on their feet—like a mouse.

Now, I'm not so sure if that has changed recently, but I'm confident that my team will win.

"Don't keep your hopes up." I told him.

—

When Naruto and Sasuke showed up outside my apartment, just over-ringing (Naruto) the little doorbell next to my little house number, I had on an incredulous raise of the eyebrows expression on my face.

I actually didn't think they'd show up for some reason.

And so I let them in and tried to tidy up the mess of papers on the old dusty coffee table that had been left in my apartment. I was studying for a test that was upcoming and it totally left my mind (whether they would come or not) that I invited over (not really) Sasuke and Naruto.

"Uhm, do you want anything to drink?" I asked them, growing more awkward by the second.

Naruto shook his head, a big smile on his face albeit he was probably sitting on the tackiest couch ever, with an array of floral printing over it. Sasuke didn't move, eyes focused on the pre-test that was on the coffee table and grabbed it.

It was a history test for my obligatory course and as much as I hated studying history (ugh not my strongest subject), I had to get my credits.

"Eh, Sakura-chan..." Naruto said, scrunching up his face as he looked at my overly marked paper with clear eraser marks as I kept trying to do-over my answers. "If you need help on this, you can ask Sasuke! He knows almost everything."

I looked over to said person and he was just staring at the quiz, but nodded nevertheless.

Maybe Naruto was just complimenting him, or over exaggeration because nobody could know almost everything.

"Fill in the missing blanks: Yayoi; Asuka; Nara; Heian." I called out to him, reciting an answer from the paper in his hands. I know—I know, I should already know the historical periods of my hometown, but as I mentioned before: history is not my forte!

"Jomon; Kofun; Kamukara. Also known as the historical periods of Japan." Sasuke replied without any hesitation, nor did he look up from the test.

I was actually shocked and glanced at Naruto who just met me with a smile as if to tell me, _I told you so._

However, that was a grade-school question so I decided to test him on my own.

"When did the periods begin?"

His eyes clashed with mine this time, and he didn't look back down which sort of scared me for a moment because his eyes are _realllllly_ dark... "Depends. Which period?"

Naming a completely random one (these I knew because why would I ask him questions to answers of which I didn't know?), I said: "The Kofun period."

"Dated in 250 AD."

This triggered an intense question and answer session between us, Naruto just intensely watched us, eyes moving back and forth like he was at a tennis tournament.

"When did the Kamakura Bakfu start?"

"1192."

"What bill is Japan's country bird on?"

"The ten thousand yen bill. The bird is known as the Kiji." He answered a question I never asked.

"What's the largest lake in Jap—"

"Lake Biwa."

"What's Japan's country song?"

"Kimigayo."

I ran out of questions, so I just stared at him dumbfounded and smacked a hand on the table.

"What the hell?" I cried out and abruptly stood up. He answered every inquire with absolute confidence that just radiated from him.

There was a crooked smirk on his his face and I flushed, suddenly feeling bashful and well aware of my surroundings.

"See?" Naruto slapped a hand on his knee. "I told you!"

Sasuke was still staring at me, and I couldn't really meet his eyes so I just sat back in my chair, looked down at my neon green toes and at the yellow flip-flops that dangled from them.

"Okay, I'm impressed." I admitted and glanced back at Naruto who was still wearing his smile. "But he can't know _everything_!"

I refused to believe that somebody that can dumbify an entire essay into four words who's that good looking can have an amazing brain also! Nobody is that near perfect and I'll be _damned_ if he is! But then again, he is the dean's brother, which makes him kind of _have_ to know a lot of things to represent his family name.

"Oh, Sakura-chan." He sighed. "Sweet, dear Sakura-chan..."

* * *

**Ugh. Hurricane Sandy happened. Welp, I'm updating on an iPod just to get this to you (no matter how inconvenient it is) and idk if any of the questions are wrong. If they are blame Jeopardy and Google. Ohand, remember this IS a SASUSAKU story not a KIBASAKU story. So if you're looking for KibaSaku, wrong story bro. The love triangle (is it a triangle? It should be an upside down V cause nothing is connecting Sasuke and Kiba... Heck, they hate each other!) is strictly for my amusement and the readers amusement before the seriousness of SasuSaku comes crashing in. Kay?**

**REVIEWWW REVIEWWWW.**


	10. X

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__you miss life._

X.

* * *

Right now I'm in a tough situation.

Okay, to explain this to you, I'm going to have to go back a little bit, okay? Okay. (Over-usage of 'okay', whatever... Okay.)

Ever since the little Q-and-A session with Sasuke, every time I see him in the hallway I always try to stump him by asking questions, which, of course gets him annoyed, but he answers them anyways.

Like for today, he was at the vending machines in the building and he spared me a glance which I tried to not blush at (he's a good looking boy! When an unattractive boy looks at you, you don't care but Sasuke's the absolute contrast of unattractive!) and sparked up a casual conversation. Or what started as a casual conversation.

Here's how it went:

Me: "How many people are living and dead in the world?"

Sasuke: "Can't be too sure, since there's a newborn being brought out into the world everyday. However, the dead outnumber the living."

Me: "By how many?"

Sasuke: "There's at least fifteen dead people for every living person."

Me: "Wh—what?! That's outrageous! I can't even name _five_ dead people I know!"

Sasuke: "There's Shakespeare, my parents—which count for two, and obviously my grandparents. Five."

By then the drink was already clanking it's way down the vending machine and I was taken aback by the bluntness of the answer.

Not the part about Shakespeare—and not even his grandparents, but his parents!

How old is Sasuke?

He looks to be around my age and he doesn't have any parents? I can't imagine that sort of thing since I've been living with my mother ever since I can remember and I never really met my father!

He must have noticed my weird little stiff moment because he gave me this look and stopped drinking the can of Pepsi in his hand and narrowed his eyes.

"Why are you giving me that weird look of sympathy?"

"Huh!? N—No! I'm..." I trailed off, feeling the words getting caught in my throat and I was suddenly embarrassed, the heat crawling up my neck. "What look?"

"You know." He said, eyes looking at my face as if sizing it up. "The cocked head and softening of the eyes."

"Uhm, I...I."

"Listen," Sasuke sighed and leaned against the blue machine. "Don't give me that look. I'm over the whole parents thing. And a person who didn't know them shouldn't feel obligated to miss them, or whatever."

He resumed gulping down his soda.

That's true, I shouldn't feel the pressure to do that but I couldn't help it! I just feel really bad for him!

Ducking my head, I ran a hand through my hair and the strands pooled over my shoulders and hid my face. "I'm just sorry, is all. I know that it must be hard loosing your parents—well actually, I don't know cause my mom is still with me but my dad died when I was little. Even if I never knew him, I remember feeling this hurt just in my chest and I kept crying and, and, and..."

I stopped when I heard a chuckle. Or something that sounded somewhat like a chuckle.

_That wasn't supposed to be funny, dammit! _I thought, looking up at him. _I'm telling you something important!_

I blanked out as soon as I saw the hand that held the familiar can of Pepsi covering his mouth from an ever-so-soft smile.

"You're overreacting." He informed me and shook his head, dropping his hand. The smile was still there but just more refined. "Stop blabbing, you sound like a moron."

This time I actually blushed, feeling weird in the presence of a smiling Sasuke. I know it sounds stupid or fan-girl-like but don't you know somebody who barely cracks a kind of smile and when you make them actually laugh or something, you feel _special_? That person doesn't smile for any meager reason and you _earned _that smile.

He threw away the can in the trash near the vending machine.

—

While wiping down the tables, I heard Kiba say: "Are you still mad that we kicked your school's ass?"

I snapped my head backward and glared.

"No!" I shouted way too quickly and that gave me away immediately.

He just threw his head back and laughed, running a hand through his messy mop of brunette hair.

My glower fell and I sighed, returning to cleaning the tables.

Kiba stayed with me until lock up time just because he didn't have practice (a little victory day off for their win a couple of days ago) and because of the fact that he informed me that a pretty girl shouldn't be alone in a _café when there are weirdos out in the world._

Then I promptly told him that my life isn't a novel and will absolutely not have those cliché moments in which I get mugged and someone comes save me, and I proceeded to hit him over the head for being impaired.

"Do you need help?" He asked me and I heard the stool being pushed back in it's place.

"No, it's alright..."

However, he didn't listen and already had a bottle of disinfectant wipes in his hand just like I did and began to clean off coffee ring stains and bread crumbs.

It always occurred to me that Kiba was always there to help—never too far away from the scene, just like that time when we both bumped into each other and a sugary drink was inches from hitting us and fell on Sasuke.

Then I remembered how angry Sasuke was that day, and compared him to the smiling one I had seen not too long ago.

For a moment I pondered what got him so mad and furious that he'd just undulate his way out the shop as if he didn't have sticky coffee all over his shirt.

And then I thought back to when he told me about his dead parents.

"Goddamned, people don't know how to clean after themselves, do they?" I heard Kiba mutter and that snapped me out of my little haze and I turned to see him scrubbing harshly on the table. "You need to buy coasters."

I wondered what happened that day.

"Yeah. We do."

—

As soon as I entered my little loft, I threw my coat on the couch and plopped right next to it.

Today was the 19th, rent day—but I had payed my landlord in advance as soon as I got the place so I wouldn't worry about that.

That means in December, I'm going to have to save up a couple extra bucks aside from the rent to buy a few presents for my mom, Kiba, Tenten...

And maybe Naruto and Sasuke. It depends on how our friendship goes. Or maybe not, because we've only met a couple of weeks ago and we haven't really spoken that much. But I guess I should since we're technically friends.

Soon, I was doing calculations in my mind, seven hundred and ten (my paycheck) minus four hundred and twenty (the rent) equals two hundred and ninety dollars. That, and plus the eighty dollars that was in my college tip jar money. So that's three hundred and seventy dollars.

Then I thought about something for a while—two hundred and ninety dollars is a lot of money just by itself! And so, I came to the decision into putting the eighty extra dollars in my emergency fund just in case anything happens.

After a while of deciding what kind of presents would be suitable for my close circle of friends (that consists of mom, Tenten, and Kiba), my mind just stumbled across a mental image of Sasuke's smile and I felt fuzzy all the way from my head to my toes.

In a panic (I didn't know why I panicked. Maybe it was just the weird feeling I got from my thoughts), I grabbed the remote and turned on the television—to block out my clouded mind—which happened to be on a cooking channel and I realized I hadn't eaten yet but I wasn't very hungry.

(Then I heard my mother's nagging voice: "You're so skinny! Eat something, won't you? You're so frail!")

Why was I thinking about Sasuke all of a sudden?

* * *

**It's short. Oh well. I'm sorry but I'm stressed out and stuff and I didn't even FEEL like updating or anything and just uggggh. **

**Review? HELP SOMEONE'S STRESS BE RELIEVED? REVIEWWW.**


	11. XI

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

XI.

* * *

The day before Thanksgiving was hectic at my house.

I cannot even begin to explain to anybody how frantic my mother was, cutting up herbs; boiling the stuffing; thawing the turkey.

This holiday, to say the least, was not my favorite one. It was the only time that my irritating (placing it charitably) relatives got together at my house and tried to make amends.

Those family members consisted of those from my mother's side, my aunt, my cousin, and my grandmother. Everyone from my father's side never really wanted to speak with me or my mom, which came off rather ill-mannered and weird. Neither of us know where they are currently residing, nor do we know, or have access to, their house number.

My grandma and mother never really had a very good relationship. She told me that grandmother always screamed at her and she just screamed back louder, to place it simply.

Now, the only reason why mom is running around restlessly is because her family only accepts perfection—nothing less, maybe more.

It's stupid really, since someone will compliment the food, and then take it back by remarking the "dirty" utensils, despite the fact that my mother boils the silverware in hot water before they come. It's the same thing, _every single visit._

"Mom," I sighed, thudding my fingers in a slow metronome, "You moving around so much is making me dizzy."

She halted and turned around quickly, killing me an infinite number of times with one glower.

"Well, maybe if you'd get _off_ your lazy buttocks, we could be finished in time!"

However, now that it's the actual holiday, I'm getting ground down into stumps with my mother's rules of how to act.

"No playing with your food; no excusing yourself during the meal; no acting rude to your cousin." Her heavy stare zeroed in on me. "No sassing."

Oh _please_—as if I've ever sassed anybody in my entire life.

"Mom, calm down! They're going to come, we'll eat, we'll talk, and before you know it—it's going to be over!" I reassured her with a smile and she sat down into the spot next to me, smoothing out the wrinkles in her dressy blouse. Then she looked me up and down.

"Get dressed."

I rolled my eyes.

—

Okay, it wasn't going to be as simple as I had placed it for my mother.

The relatives were in a single-file line outside of the door, all in some sort of flowing patterned skirt and I felt under-dressed with my high-waisted jeans and maroon cardigan.

My mother let them in, greeting each one of them with a forced smile, and they returned the favor with one of their own. They all looked around the living room for a moment, my aunt even paused to run her index finger across the lamp table, searching for dirt but found none. Mom had mopped and dusted away before they arrived.

"My, my, my. You've really cleaned up, haven't you?" Grandmother smiled at my mother, her droopy skin detailing her age.

"Yes," mom said proudly. "I have."

All of a sudden, grandmother's eyes weren't focused on mother—but on something behind her. The curtains were drawn back and the windows were wide open to let some of the crisp air into the room.

As my mother always said:_ "Who needs air-freshener when the air from outside is completely free, and fresh? Pointless."_

"Hmm, you might have to do something about those dingy window panes, though."

Her proud smile melted into a cold sneer.

I looked over to my cousin, who was staring right back with a devious smile. I rose an eyebrow and she suddenly flipped me off discreetly enough that nobody noticed except for myself.

Gaping, I glowered at her.

And so the night begins.

—

"This is extremely delicious!" My aunt informed us sophisticatedly (like always) with a look of utter bliss, and ate another spoonful of food.

It might have been the lighting, or did I have just see my mother's eyes light up the tiniest bit? I guess it's because her sister and her used to be close, until granny ripped them apart for being so different, so approval is rare from my aunt.

Mother was the rebel of her family ("The black sheep of the family," as grandmother puts it), she didn't enjoy school and would rather ditch school with her friends and smoke behind the building.

Not to recommenced anyone into doing that, but my mother was pretty bad-ass back then.

I turned back to my food, picking away at the meat of the turkey to get it onto my fork until my cousin decided to kick me under the table and that caused my fork to clatter onto the plate loudly.

Mom shot me a look and I shot one to my cousin. How aggravating.

"Sakura, dear. Don't do that with your eating utensil." My grandmother scolded and picked up her own fork, studying it. "Speaking of that, these forks aren't as shiny as mine back at home."

Oh God, kill me!

—

I moved around Tenten with a new tray, a frown etched on my face.

"How was your Thanksgiving break from work, Sakura?" She asked with a grin, whistling a tune while counting the money in the register. "Mine was amazing."

"Don't rub it in," I told her begrudgingly and walked over to the table, giving them a smile and their food before going back to Tenten. "Mine was horrible, until the relatives finally left!"

I stifled a yawn, leaning over to clean the counter. Today was oddly a slow day, and Kiba wasn't in sight.

"They were horrendous, Tenten. I can't even..."

"Yeah? Well, my family and I had a quiet turkey day. I guess it had to do with the fact that our cheeks were filled so we couldn't really talk anyways." Tenten laughed, baring all her teeth.

Sometimes I was envious of Tenten. I mean, she had both of her parents and when I used to visit to her house, it felt like I was a whole different species. Her parents were always joking around and having constant commentary, it just made me realize how much I missed my father and how I didn't have parents like that while I was growing up.

I should get to know more about him, to be honest. I barely know anything about him! Mom refuses to bring up that topic!

"Hey!" Tenten called out and I broke out of my haze to blink at her. "Don't you go back to the university tomorrow?"

I groaned.

—

Psychology was a class elective.

I only picked it because it was kind of in the branch of medical needs, since the person was still studying the human mind.

Right off the bat of me entering the classroom, I'm presented with a silver haired male. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that he had on a dark green turtleneck sweater and the collar was pulled so far up that it covered a big majority of his face.

Slightly perturbed at him, I sat down in one of the three tables that seated six people. It wasn't a very big class compared to the about-fifty-student-holding courses, and I was glad because I didn't need the extra noise to distract me.

He looked up at me for a second before returning to an orange book with no title nor illustration.

After a few minutes of waiting and students filling up seats, I had Naruto (it was a surprise that he was in this class), Ino, some kid with violet eyes, and a boy who looked strangely familiar. Now all we needed was one more person.

Just then, Sasuke walked into the classroom and headed over for my table, sitting down without another word as the professor closed the door.

"Good morning class."

There was a chorus response.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, but unlike most professors, I'd like you to call me by my first name." He pocketed the book in his slacks, and leaned back on the front of his desk. The whiteboard behind him looked so clean that I wondered if he'd ever used it before. "And instead of this class being Psychology 101, I'd like you to call it :'The Box'."

Instead of there being a bunch of murmurs like I was expecting, nobody said a word. Except Naruto hit me in the side by accident when he tried to shift into a more comfortable position and I resisted the ginormous urge to glare at him.

"Does anybody know why I'd call this class: 'The Box'?" He asked, scanning the classroom. "Ah, yes?"

I looked over at the boy who looked familiar since he rose his hand and with an impassive face he replied: "Because you want us to think outside the box."

Sasuke tsked, and it dawned on me that the both of them looked alike!

I blinked, and rose my eyebrows.

"Correct. Now, I know most of you have already heard this boring introduction, but there is someone who hasn't—" His eyes stopped on me.

That was right.

Since my acceptance came in so late, and I was starting in the middle of the courses, most of the classes were already in mid-lesson so it felt weird to just jump in.

It was actually refreshing to see Mr. Hatake—Kakashi, re-introduce his class.

"—And I'd just like to start off with that." Then he proceeded to clasp his hands together and rub them. "Now then, we're going to be starting on a new project, one that's going to be partnered up."

Naruto started jumping in his seat, muttering something with excitement in his voice until Ino hit him so he'd shut up.

"Look at the person sitting across from you," Kakashi instructed, going around his desk to retrieve a small pile of papers that was paper-clipped together.

Everyone in my group did as told.

"That's the person you're working with for this project."

My eyes met violet ones.

—

"So the project is to... interperate what the lyrics given to you mean and how they apply to everyday life. This is a Social Psychology activity and you will have a week to complete it... That means it's due next class." Naruto groaned, sinking in his chair.

Ino, his partner, reached over and smacked his head.

Letting out a small laugh, I looked at Sasuke who twitched at his partner, Sai—Ino told me his name, and moved his chair over to him since they were on opposite ends of the table.

My gaze fell on my partner.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Sakura."

"Suigetsu." He grinned, resting on the table.

I smiled back and stood up to move my chair into Sasuke's spot so I'd be closer to work with him. Kakshi informed us that we could talk quietly amongst our partners.

"Okay so our lyrics are—"

"Ino!" Naruto whined. "This is hard!"

"Tha's wha' she said!" Suigetsu piped out with a snicker and Naruto chuckled.

"That's what your mother said yesterday too, how did you know?"

Suigetsu stopped laughing with him, and stared. "Na' cool man. Na' cool."

Ino glanced at me with a frown and I shrugged my shoulders, moving my focus onto Sasuke and Sai who were both working quietly.

"They're na' bro's, if tha's whatcha thinkin'..." He said and I shook my head, embarrassed to have been caught staring.

Suigetsu didn't seem to care, almost having this water-type vibe running through him like a wave.

"They look pretty similar, though..."

"Cousin's."

—

While packing up to leave Kakakshi's class, I folded up the paper and inserted it into a pocket of my binder, and Suigetsu placed a hand on my shoulder.

I jumped, not noticing him there since everyone was already leaving.

"Oh, Suigetsu."

"Ye', so since we're na' really finished, ya' wanna' come ova' to ma' dorm someday ta' finish? Ma' roommate probably won't mind."

"Sure." I smiled.

I mean, yes, my mom has taught me about the stranger danger, and to not get into vans whenever they offer you candy, but he was a student at this university and didn't seem like he could hurt a fly.

Plus, he has a roommate.

"Sakura!" Ino called out from the doorway, waving. "Let's go!"

Sasuke and Naruto were next to her, Sai being gone from the group. Sasuke looked at me for a moment and rose an eyebrow.

I looked away.

* * *

**A/N: PREPARE FOR THE KINDA LONG AUTHORS NOTE. Oh gosh, I'm SORRY ABOUT NOT UPDATING. I've been so busy here, it's like so serious. By the way, if anyone has messaged me and I haven't replied yet, I'll reply soon! I've been backed up with work at school... OH AND, if there's any mistakes in this chapter, excuse that because I have not proofread (I rarely do. Bad habit) and I'll fix them later. I just wanted to get this chapter up and running. And I'm sorry for the no interaction today, but it was just to set the scene for the next chapter which will HAVE SasuSaku talking! Yes! So please bare with me for a while, cause I'm stressing with a few things and reviews can always cheer me up!**

**REVIEW PLEASE. PLEAAAAASE.**


	12. XII

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

XII.

* * *

"Are we done? We betta' be done, cuz' I ain't gon' be awake for more work."

Suigetsu and I have been in his dorm room for about a good two hours just to finish up our Psychology project, which was _really_ tiring. We both thought it would have been an easy thing to do, but it wasn't!

So far, I'd visited him 4 times and this would be the last time I'd do that, since this project was due on Monday and it was Friday.

"And we are... Done!" I finished off happily, dotting the _i'_s in his name that was under mine on the top right-hand corner of our typed paper. I decided the paper would look better if I had inked our names in a bright red instead of using that lame _Times New Roman_ font.

A content sigh escaped his lips, and I turned around to see Suigetsu flopping on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head. His violet eyes found me and a grin made its way to his lips.

From the hours we spent together, I'd actually gotten to know this guy better! I mean, seriously.

**Mental list about Suigetsu Hozuki  
**_Made by: I, Sakura Haruno!_

1. He actually never pronounces almost 67% of the words used in his sentences.

2. He likes to chew his pencils. (Side note: Never borrow a pencil from him. Ever.)

3. He dyed his hair tips blue back in the 11th grade.

4. No, he does not wear contacts.

5. Albeit he looks it, he's not that lazy. He did like, 54% of the work in this project.

6. His favorite color is Indigo.

7. He likes to tease this girl he likes. He says she has glasses.

8. He basically only drinks water. Which is weird, but who am I to judge?

9. His room-mate is never present. Or at least when I'm around.

"Ya' can look, but ya' can't touch." Suigetsu winked at me (indicating that I had looked at him longer than I liked) and swiped a book from the twin bed next to his own. It was his roommates bed and it was cluttered with video game boxes, papers, and books. "Rememba' I said tha' I already have a crush, Saks!" Then he paused. "...Eh, ya' can touch a _lil'_."

I rolled my eyes and started to place our project papers in order, all 15, _Times New Roman_ font, typed papers. However, my eyes still managed to go back to the messy bed.

"Say, Suigetsu? Where's your roommate? I've never seen him..."

"Hm?" He peeked out from the top of the book with the title scratched out. It was orange and small, with a purple _2 _on the cover. I was pretty sure I'd seen one of those on top of Kakashi's desk. "Oh, well he should be here any momen', ya' been here longer than before." He continued, shooting a look at the digital clock on top of his dresser.

It was true, I'd usually spend an hour with him, if not an hour and a half tops—but today this wasn't the case. I spent about three hours cramped inside of this dorm, hunched over Suigetsu's HP Mini laptop, typing away.

"What's his na—"

The door swung open and I literally felt a breeze as someone ran past me and pounced on the bed next to Suigetsu's, a groan emanating from him.

"Man," he groaned as he began to turn in the bed. I was pretty sure that I was as pale as the sheets on his bed, since he scared the crap out of me! Who in the right mind just busts into a room like that? "I swear, Ino's gonna' drive me off a cliff."

_Ino? What?_

"Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto?"

"Hey there, Sakura-chan!"

—

"And that, is why I'm so pale. He scared the crap out of me." I finished off, wiping down the counter. "Plus, genes. Oh, and the reason that it's _freaking winter_, therefore the sun is hardly out."

After finishing up my project, and chatting a bit to Sui and Naruto, I had headed off to work where of course, Kiba inquired on my white-as-untouched-snow face, then I had to explain to him what had happened.

Kiba chuckled, shaking his head and leaned forward, iced mocha in hand. "Yeah, it's winter, but you were paler than usual."

Tenten, who was rushing past me with a oval tray holding about six steaming drinks, managed to say: "He was worried! How cute!"

His face melted into a frown, and I slightly noted how his cheeks glowed a scarlet shade. "Shut up. You need to really get a life."

I stifled back a laugh with my hand when Tenten responded with a nonchalant: "You need to get some. Which means, get laid."

Kiba sneered, muttering something under his breath before turning to me and shook his head. "She's irrelevant right now. Anyways, have you gone to the mall?"

"Hm? No, why?"

"Just... wondering if anything caught your eye, or something."

I bent down under the counter to retrieve a few disinfectant wipes. The container was a baby blue and relatively easy to open, so I had no trouble obtaining them quickly and standing back up. "Caught my eye?"

"Yeah..." Kiba took a sip of his drink. I'll never understand why he prefers drinking that when it's winter, instead of a piping hot cup of coffee. "Something you like, or... something."

I glanced over at him and then back to the counter where I was trying to rub away at a ring stain that a drink left. I was reminded of that day he stayed back to help me clean up the tables and then when we were done I went home and thought about Christmas.

"_Just wondering if anything caught your eye."_

Slowing down my movements on the stain, I stopped altogether soon and adverted my gaze to Kiba. Was he trying to ask if I wanted anything for Christmas?

He was looking down at his hands, cheeks red and still preferring that cold drink. I felt my lips curling up into a smile and I reached over to ruffle his hair which he wasn't too happy about, tugging away from under my hand, eyes slightly widening.

"You're too adorable!" I told him, meaning it in the most innocent way ever.

No matter how much Tenten razzed him or myself about going out together, I'm pretty sure we both knew she was just kidding and it meant nothing.

—

When I got into Building A on Monday, I had snow all over me. It was clinging onto my hair, my scarf, my gloves, my bag, _and _my sweater. Basically, I was glistening... With snow.

However, my whole opinion on myself changed when I saw Sasuke. I mean, at least I had parked a shorter distance to make sure I wouldn't get sick, but that obviously wasn't the case for Sasuke who had trudged from the dorms and into the building. (Well, he should have gotten up earlier.)

He lowered his hoodie, revealing that the back of his hair was dry, yet you couldn't say the same for the front which he smoothed down, and that caused the snow that was on it to dampen his forelocks, and that caused it to now stick to his forehead.

Scowling, he peeled off his charcoal colored gloves and then shot me a look as if to challenge me to say anything about his bad hair day.

His lips were a cherry red while the color of the rest of his face rivaled my pigmentation from Friday.

_'Somebody doesn't like snow.'_ I mused, taking off my own gloves where I caught a glimpse of my watch. I still had about ten minutes until my first class began which was a few doors down the hall.

It was snowing outside, not a blizzard, yet it was enough to make you get the flu if you stayed outside long enough in the parking lot. It was pretty evident that it was going to be a white Christmas this year since it had started to snow so early in the month.

"I don't understand the reason of snowflakes..." Sasuke muttered under his breath, shaking the slowly melting said thing off of his sweater.

"Hm?" I hummed, looking up at him. It was probably a rhetorical statement, but I just needed to make a response to wash myself of all the possibilities that it wasn't rhetorical.

"I mean," he began, dusting off his bag next. "It's stupid. 'No two snowflakes are ever alike'. Okay, Meteorologists only have a partial _understanding _of _snowflakes_—their size and density, so how do they know this? Snowflakes tend to melt too quickly before they actually have a shot at figuring this out. It's _very _stupid, actually."

For a moment, I didn't know how to respond to this. I mean, yes, I knew Sasuke was an intellectual human, albeit I had no idea he could be so opinionated over _snowflakes._

"It's... It's just a saying for kids." I informed him, and he rose an eyebrow, a trademark move. "I mean, just to boost their confidence. It means that nobody's like them."

"It's still idiotic nonetheless."

"Not really... Didn't anyone ever say that phrase to you?"

He never responded, and I swear I almost had a mental breakdown. How did he have a childhood then?

"That's... That's inhumane! You had a lack of childhood!"

Sasuke cocked his head to the left. "How are you so certain about that? For all you know, my childhood could have been exhilarating. You can't base my past on one phrase I was never told."

Opening my mouth back to retaliate, I closed it shut, realizing that he was correct.

"Anyways, yes, I've been told the saying before, I never actually cleared it up that I hadn't been told it. You just assumed, as always." He shook his head, and I felt myself slightly flush.

"You're... You're..."

Sasuke waited for me to finish, staying quiet. I hated that about him! He never finished my sentences, therefore pushing me to find my words and finish what I started.

"You're just... complicated."

"So is everyday life, however you don't see me complaining."

I mimicked an eyebrow raise of his and folded my arms across my chest. "Really? You did seem like you were complaining about the weather."

Sasuke shrugged. "I was just never much of an outdoorsy type kid. I preferred to stay inside. With that said, I should get to my first class. You should do the same."

Without so much of a breath of air, he side stepped me and headed down the hall. Sasuke Uchiha, no matter what he said, was very complicated. He hardly talked, and whenever he spoke more than three words, it was usually a rant about something, and he loved to have the last word, even if he wanted the person to finish _their _last word first.

He was complicated, and I'm dubious to the fact that anyone will disagree with me.

—

After handing in the project when we finished a lesson in 'The Box', Suigetsu threw an arm around my shoulder and brought me closer to him.

"Finally! I thought we were neva' gon' get tha' damned project done!"

I rolled my eyes, a habit that seemed to breathe life whenever I was around Suigetsu. I ducked under his arm to escape his trap.

"Don't get so happy yet, Suigetsu. For all we know, our project could have been horrible!" I frowned, shaking my head and pulled out my gloves. Everyone in the class was getting ready to leave, pulling on their sweaters and coats.

"I probably failed this class, since I was paired up with someone who barely has a brain!" A shrill voice groaned, frustrated.

Turning around, I saw Ino throw her hands up in despair, her purple trench jacket (which literally looked like pure silk—and not that warm) rising with the movement.

I have to admit, sometimes I did feel completely out of place at times. I remember the first day I had gone into my astronomy class, I was stunned speechless. Although I kind of should have expected it, the amount of expensive appliances actually boggled me. Back in the community college, I didn't have this class, nor the planetarium roof taking place of the ceiling.

I hadn't even noticed the roof from outside of the building, but it wasn't a big bump to make a huge difference either. My eyes had trailed over the granite counter tops that each held a miniature telescope for every seat (possibly for the ceiling that could instantly change from being slightly equivalent to a round skylight, to a starry night with constellations). Under the counters were cabinets made out of oak, holding textbooks and a few other things that I: didn't even know the name to, or couldn't pronounce.

This memory led me to when Ino informed me to not tell anyone that I was here on a scholarship.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I wrapped my scarf around my neck and called Ino over to my seat. Ino never actually explained what she meant by that and my curiosity was piqued. When she began walking to me, I noticed that she was looking for something in her purse.

"Mhm?" She hummed.

"Do you remember that day that you told me to not tell anyone that I was on a scholarship?" I semi-whispered to her, and that caught her attention and her blue eyes pierced into my own eyes.

"Shh!" Ino placed a hurried finger to my mouth, shushing me. A bit dramatic, if you ask me—but isn't every rich girl dramatic?

"Why?" I mumbled through my barely parted lips.

"Because..." She began, dropping her hand and looked over her shoulder before returning to searching in her bag. "It's a competitive school, and you don't want anyone to find out. The last time we had a student here on a scholarship and that went around, things didn't turn out so well."

I felt my eyes slightly widening. If things didn't turn out so well... What happened? Was he killed off or something? The Earth knows that these rich people can afford to cover up a murder!

"Wh—What happened to the kid?"

"Quit school after about two months of harassment. He didn't want to report it since he was afraid of what the people who were harassing him would do."

"That's... That's...!" I couldn't even finish off my sentence.

_'These rich people are freighting!' _

Unlike Sasuke, Ino would actually finish off your sentence for you. Nodding, said girl sighed. "I know righ—_Oh!_ There you are!" She pulled out a red lipstick from her purse, uncapping it and applying some on her lips as if what we were just talking about _wasn't _something completely terrifying! "I was looking for it everywhere."

I sighed and ran a hand down my face. Maybe I did have Ino pegged as a stuck up rich girl, and maybe I was wrong since she didn't take the information about me being on a scholarship and run with it—but she still did have that stuck-up air around her.

—

It was still snowing when I got outside. Groaning, I rose my arms to try and cover a percent of my hair and rushed to my car.

Mostly everyone had gone home, since I had to drop by Itachi's office to bring him the last pile of paperwork that he needed for me. My fingers nearly screamed with relief since only I knew how many times my hands cramped from filling out those papers.

Getting into my car, I sighed and glanced at my ID card. My face smiled at me, and beside it was a red line and under that was my information. Since I didn't have a dorm number it had: "_N/P"_ next to that which meant: _"Not Provided"_.

Turning the ignition on my car, I nearly had a heart attack when there was a knock on my window.

I blinked a few times just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Outside of my car was Naruto. And Sasuke.

Naruto peered in with a happy grin and I rolled down my window a bit to hear him.

"Hey Sakura-chan!"

"...Hi..." I replied, unsure of what to say. His cheeks were a rosy red and Sasuke was behind him, grumbling for him to hurry up or something along those lines.

"So, Sasuke and I—"

Sasuke coughed. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"—So_ I_..." He leaned down and quickly whispered through the parting of the window: "He's not a person who likes to ask for help," and then fixed his posture. "I wanted to know if you could take us to the dorms? It's not that far away but I don't want to catch pneumonia or anything."

I blinked a few more times, just staring at them. It wasn't even snowing that much, and it wasn't even that cold—but for some strange reason, I found myself unlocking the doors.

—

"You should turn on some music, Sakura-chan." Naruto suggested, getting comfortable in the back seat since Sasuke demanded the front.

"Unless you'd like no heat, I don't think we should."

"What?" He questioned, puzzled and I heard the _click _of Sasuke's seatbelt, therefore I put the car in _reverse_ and backed out of my parking space.

"The heat doesn't work if I turn on the radio, and vice versa." I explained, shifting the gear to _drive _and making my way to the dorms.

"So it's either music and no heat-slash-air-conditioning, or no heat-slash-air-conditioning and music?" The person besides me asked, looking down at the items.

I nodded to confirm his point.

"That's bogus!" Naruto protested, pouting like a child and I smiled.

Somehow, I felt at ease with them around. They never acted snobby (except the times Sasuke showed off his intellect) and never seemed threatening.

I finally felt like I belonged.

* * *

**A/N: OMG OMG OMG OMG. I left you guys for about 2 months and I'm utterly sorry. I had to write things for my application and I was overwhelmed and it was graduation picture day and I couldn't,. Like... I should just shut up. Hate me. Hate me. But leave a review please.**

**REVIEW?**


	13. XIII

**Mended**  
_Love is life,  
and if you miss love…  
You miss life_

XIII.

* * *

Christmas was a-okay this year. Seriously. I spent the entire day with my mother, watching some of her old favorite holiday movies and drinking eggnog _(with no alcohol of _course_). _

After watching around five or six movies, we began to open presents which had brought tremendous joy in the atmosphere.

"Oh my…" She had whispered to herself and held up the silky shirt that had our family symbol on the back. The cuffs were embroidered with a cream colored lace, and as was the collar which had been specifically named a "peter-pan collar" by the stylist who helped me picked out the shirt that I desired to customize.

"This… This must have cost a fortune!" My mother then turned to me with wide eyes and scanned over the other two presents that I had gotten her. "I actually don't want to open the other gifts, in fear of you going bankrupt!"

I scoffed lightly and my lips formed a small smile. "Fine, I'll open one of yours first."

"What? I was supposed to get you something?" She gasped and I blinked.

A moment of silence passed and I eyed her suspiciously.

"Give the gig up, mom. You tried this when I was ten-years-old." I informed her and stuck out my hands to obtain the present.

"Ah, you're no fun!" My mother scolded while standing up. "Now you wait here little miss I-want-my-present."

A small laugh escaped through my lips as she hurried to the kitchen, her pajama robe fluttering behind her, resembling a cape.

I shifted to the radio that was lowly playing 'Silent Night' and smiled.

Mom is a superhero, though… I thought while I picked a few strands of the angel colored rug.

My mother came rushing back, holding four presents all wrapped in different paper.

"Pick!" She grinned widely and set down the gifts next to the small aluminum tree in our house. We never had a real tree, since we never really had any where to place it at. However, the pine scented car fresheners that she hung next to our feeble tree gave off the illusion of a real tree.

"Uhm…" I hummed to myself and reached out to grab the present covered in reindeers.

"I dug it out of the attic; it was mixed in with a few of your baby pictures…" Her voice was muffled as I took off the wrapping paper and held up her present, confused at first.

I looked up and realized that my mother was still talking, and it was then that I realized what the present was and I cut my mother off by wrapping my arms around her shoulders, her present to me in my right hand.

I don't remember how many times I've ever cried in my life, but as I let go of her and stared down at the picture frame with an old photograph of my father on it, I realized that these tears meant something.

I never had pictures of my father, since his side of the family didn't acknowledge my mother or me, and mom burned what little of his pictures she had in a fit of depression.

It meant something.

—

The rest of December, New Years, January passed in a blur.

On New Years, I was working an extra shift at Desu's, and my mother was most likely fast asleep since she didn't really care much for that day. Kiba stayed at the café with Tenten and me, albeit the store was pretty much deserted that day. As soon as the clock hit twelve, we cheered for a new year and hugged. Tenten cheered for Kiba and I to kiss, so that's exactly what we did.

We didn't kiss on the lips, but I did give him a peck on the cheek.

January was full of school-work and regular-work, it was exhausting.

In February, for Valentine's Day I stayed home from school and ate chocolates with Tenten… And we might have cried at the ending of some of them.

Right now, it's February 16th, and nothing exciting has happened so far but I am excited for Kakashi's class. His lectures are the easiest of them all, and I actually enjoy myself throughout the class.

I turn the knob to his classroom open, and I'm partially surprised to see that I'm the first one there.

Kakashi turned around at the sound of the door opening and nodded to me before returning to fixing the horizontal row of orange balloons on his desk.

As I took a seat at my group desk, my eyes scanned the whiteboard which read: _"The Box" _and under that _"Developmental Psychology"_ in green marker. I shook my head and placed my bag on the table.

The class didn't start until everybody walked inside the room, and I literally mean that. There were about three students who were the last ones to come in, and they didn't even get a chance to sit down as Kakashi popped one of the balloons.

I jumped, startled by the noise. Kakashi picked up one of the balloons and held up the needle he previously used. He popped it again.

I flinched this time around; however, I did not jump.

Kakashi repeated the same thing a few more times, and at the sixth turn, I didn't even blink.

This continued until he reached down and grabbed the last orange balloon, and when he stuck the needle through, there was no pop.

I blinked a few times, puzzled and glanced around my table. It seemed like I wasn't the only one, even Sasuke and Sai had a slightly confused look upon their features—even though slightly was sort of an overstatement.

Turning back to the class, it was then that Kakashi whipped the balloon around to reveal a large _'X'_ made out of tape with the needle through it. He took out the needle and placed it through a different part of the balloon, which caused it to pop, and caused me to flinch.

There was a moment a silence throughout the class.

"What the_ heck_ was that for?" Naruto called out, frustration evident in his voice.

"Hush, you idiot!" Ino shushed him, however it fell on deaf ears because he repeated the question once more, and Kakashi leaned on the table, scraps of orange around his feet.

"When I popped the first balloon, you weren't expecting that, right? And when I continued to pop them, you began to get used to the noise right?" He inquired, tilting his head slightly and everyone began muttering 'yes'.

Kakashi held up a hand to silence the class and he nodded. "That is called habituation. And when the last balloon popped and you were all confused, is called dishabituation. Dishabituation caused you to have some sort of discomfort or irritation that you didn't understand why it never popped."

A few people glanced back at Naruto which set his cheeks ablaze and he looked down at his hands.

"What you just learned," he said and pointed to the whiteboard, "Is developmental psychology."

Kakashi sat up straight and bent down to pick up the left over balloon pieces. "Dishabituation made you feel discomfort and that's what we're studying this time."

As he stood, Suigestsu raised an eyebrow. "We studyin' discomfaht?"

"Yes, just like how your accent—or enunciation causes me great discomfort." He joked and there was an eruption of laughter as Suigetsu rolled his eyes.

As soon as the class calmed down (and I, you've got to admit that it was pretty funny) Kakashi continued. "No, I'm just kidding, Sui. However, we are studying about getting too comfortable."

"Like?" I asked, wondering what he had in mind.

"Most of you are familiar with the play Romeo and Juliet, right? Well, I conjured up my own little play and a few of you will be presenting it. There are enough roles for two of each group to be picked on."

Almost instantly I shied away in my seat, afraid of being called on. I was never good at public speaking, always mixing up my words and getting tongue tied.

Kakashi began picking and I most likely jinxed myself because be picked me and Sai.

Surprise, surprise.

When he finished picking out more poor, innocent souls, we were called to stand in front of the class. I wrung my hands together, feeling slightly anxious.

"Now, turn to face the person from your table."

I followed his directions and soon I was staring into dark eyes. He blinked and my gaze quickly adverted to the buttons of his shirt.

"And now the girl will compliment the boy," Kakashi walked past us, handing Sai and I a paper. "And the boy will do the same. Sakura, start us off."

I felt my heart race a little faster as I looked down at the two sentences in quotations.

"Uhm... Your lips a-are as soft as a silk blanket, they're so plump and full of life also." I stammered slightly at the uncanny words.

A few laughs spilled through the class and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly.

"Sai, it's your turn."

Sai lifted the piece of paper to his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not saying this."

"Fine, it's your grade. Sit down, Sasuke come up. I know you won't refuse 'cause you like good grades, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and I felt my heart beat even faster as Sai handed him the paper and he stood in front of me.

"Your beard scratches my skin; I think it's time you shave."

My eyes went wide as the class roared with laughter at someone who barely talks with emotion, said what he said.

Kakashi held up a hand to soothe everyone, although it seemed like he himself was having trouble containing his laughter.

"Sakura?"

I cleared my throat. "I want to run my fingers through your silky hair, and trace the outline of your bare curves…" I trailed off, but Kakashi urged me to go on. "…I just want to hold you at night and hear your soft voice and glance at your painted nails."

There was more laughter and I felt myself go stiff.

"S-Sasuke? Sorry." Kakashi apologized for letting a few laughs escape.

"I just want to feel your six-pack against me when we go to the beach. I want everyone to know that you are my strong man." This time, he said it quieter, and there was truculence underlying his tone. He obviously wasn't happy with people laughing at him, nor was he happy with saying the things Kakashi had written out for him.

Then again, this is Sasuke we're talking about. He really does care about getting good grades.

This time, the class was out of control and probably exaggerating their laughter. I looked up at Sasuke and it turns out that he was already glancing down at me. My cheeks felt even hotter and I blinked.

—

"When is the freaking winter going to end?" Tenten groaned, wiping down the counter. It was nearing closing time and barely anyone was coming in to get anything to eat at this hour.

Kiba shrugged. "I have no idea; I'm just waiting for Sakura's birthday."

I laughed when Tenten turned to face him with an incredulous stare. "I hope you do know that my birthday is before hers!"

"Oh, I know." He explained, and gave a toothy grin. "I just don't give a shit."

"Why you little fucker—"

The front door opened, but we paid no mind to it until Tenten asked if I knew the guy.

I looked up to see Sasuke heading towards me and I ran a hand through my hair unconsciously to kind of fix it.

"Sasuke?" I tilted my head.

"Naruto's throwing a party for Suigetsu."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, always straight-forward.

"Really? Where?"

"His dorm room," he replied with a 'duh' tone.

"Oh, is that it?"

"No."

There was a moment of silence.

"…"

"I need a date."

Taken aback, I felt my eyes widen and my ears heat up. He needed a date?

"Dobe said I needed one, or else I couldn't go to the party and Suigetsu's and I… we have a strong tie."

I just nodded, not trusting my mouth quite yet.

"I wasn't going to ask Ino, because she's highly annoying, and as are you but I can handle your presence."

I shook my head at him. He's so cold.

"Anyways, if you don't want your—"

"—Scholarship to end yada yada yada." I cut him off and sighed. "Sure, I'll go with you."

He nodded and then turned to walk away.

"Bye, Sasuke."

He raised a hand as a makeshift wave.

I spun on my heel to resume wiping the counter, yet I only noticed Kiba and Tenten staring at me, and I just realized that they witness this whole ordeal.

_Now this,_ I thought,_ is _really_ discomforting, yeah Kakashi?_

* * *

**A/N: HATE ME LATER. JUST LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS NOW. SORRY FOR THIS POOR EXCUSE OF AN AUTHORS NOTE. I'VE BEEN BUSY.**

**REVIEWWWWW.**

**ps. I didn't read over this, only skimmed it. Forgive me for any errors.**

**pps. Did nobody notice how the thingy majig quote at the top of the last chapter was fucked up? no? I should fix that now.**

**ppps. 69 FAVES. AHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAA. /shotdead. oh my I'm immature. Sorry.**


	14. XIV

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
and if you miss love…  
You miss life._

XIV.

* * *

"What's this guy's name again?"

I stopped making my way through the clothes that hung up in my closet, and spun around to face Tenten who was lying on my bed with a bag of chips near her.

"Suigetsu," I told her once more, eyeing the junk food on my blankets. "And don't leave crumbs on my bed!"

Even though I was already back to square one—pushing hangers away that held less than decent part clothes—I could feel the eye roll.

"Yeah, yeah. But can we get back to what's important here?"

"And that is?"

"That jerk, who admittedly is highly fit, asked you out!"

I paused to give a pale pink shirt a once over before moving it aside. "He didn't ask me out."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Then what was that whole thing about?"

Sighing, my body twisted slightly to give Tenten a glare. "It's… complicated!"

She scoffed and popped a chip in her mouth, chewing it whilst saying: "What are you guys, a relationship status?"

—

After a bit of consideration (and me trying on a few outfits), I just decided to dress for the weather instead of dressing to impress…

Well, okay, that's a lie.

I did dress for the weather, however, I also dressed to impress—having Uchiha Sasuke: Brother of the Dean escort (not really) you to what is considered a miniature frat party can put you on the edge!

Sporting a heavy knit cream colored sweater and a burgundy scarf (they matched my jeans, ok?), I pulled on my boots and quickly ran a hand through my already straightened out hair in an attempt to calm down my churning stomach.

_It's a small party._ I thought, grabbing my keys off the counter of my kitchen.

_I shouldn't be nervous._ I thought, shutting off the lights and grabbing the small gift I quickly bought Suigetsu yesterday.

_It's gonna be alright._ I thought, closing the door behind me.

—

When I pulled up to KSU's parking lot and pulled down the mirrored sun visor of my car, I realized that my cheeks were a rosy red.

The reason for that was because I wanted to soothe myself down with some music and therefore the heater wouldn't turn on. Piece of junk car.

Turning the ignition off, I psyched myself up much like my interview for KSU, and then headed out to the familiar dorm room.

Technically, the boy dorms are forbidden to girls and vice versa, however KSU is very lenient on those sort of rules (or so I've heard) since they expect you to be smart. Also, because since your legal they can't really do anything.

When I neared the boys' dorm, I began to get puzzled. It seemed like the lights were off in every single room.

Paranoid worry that I've been punked began seeping through my pores until my ears heard the music descending beyond the dorm rooms.

Blinking, I began to follow the sound with my ears, passing the vending machines and ended up behind the dorms.

My eyes slightly widened at the view of what I guessed was half the entire school spread out in the field (AKA: KSU_ property_!_ Property_, people!) dancing with most holding a red cup.

There was a folding table nearby holding nothing but beer and several other alcoholic drinks. A few girls in my astronomy class were downing drinks like it was water.

The music wasn't loud enough that the police would be called, yet everyone was close enough to the speakers that it was relatively on MAX.

On the back of the dorm building were some sort of makeshift lanterns that gave off an unpleasant bright glow.

Almost as if he appeared out of thin air, Naruto slung an arm around my shoulder.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke tells me he brought you here as your date?" He asked me, pulling me to the drinking table.

"Uhm, I… Yes?" I stuttered, somehow feeling overwhelmed.

"Good!" Naruto laughed, and I noticed the glow stick bracelet around his wrist that was a bright orange. He poured some, what I presumed was beer, in one of those red cups and handed it to me. "He should be around here somewhere!"

"Who?" I inquired, taking the cup hesitantly, not intending to drink it whatsoever. I wanted to be sober when I went home.

"Your date, of course!" He grinned and shot a fist in the air when the music changed. "This is _my song! _See ya' around Sakura-chan! Have a blast!"

Without another word, Naruto disappeared as people blurred past him.

"Calm down, Sakura…" I whispered to myself and looked down at the cup in my hand and placed it on the table. "Just find Sasuke."

—

Finding an oddly unique looking boy was harder than I expected. I'd gone around the perimeter of the party two times exact until my eyes spotted him leaning against the wall, talking with the birthday boy.

"Sasuke!" I said harshly, giving him a glare.

Suigetsu was the first to greet me by sweeping me in a hug, his shirt smelling of faint liquor. When he pulled away his gaze fell downwards to my hands.

"Ga' me a presen', Sak?" He questioned with a Cheshire like smile.

I glanced down at the present bag. I completely forgot about it until now, and then I realized that I probably looked like an idiot, walking around aimlessly with a big bag in my hands.

"Oh—yeah, here…" I handed over the present and he gladly took it like a child. "I hope you like it!" A small smile curved on my lips.

Suigetsu seemed like he was about to say something else until he furrowed his eyebrows and changed his vision betwixt Sasuke and I.

"Maybe I sha' leave ya lovebirds alone," he contemplated out loud.

Being the polite person, I declined and offered for him to stay, however he stuck to his option and hugged me once more after I wished him a happy birthday.

It dawned on me that it was actually a Monday and that nearly everyone was going to have to go to school with a hangover.

Shaking my head, I returned my attention to Sasuke and I tilted my head.

"I thought this was going to be a small party!?"

His eyebrow rose.

"What gave you that impression?"

"You said so!"

Sasuke nonchalantly took a sip out of his own red cup. "Don't recall that. I simply said it was going to be in his dorm room."

"Yes—a dorm room is small, therefore it equals a small party! And also, the party is_ not_ in his dorm room, might I add!" I didn't feel frustrated at all, despite my words. They just tumbled out so quickly that I didn't have a chance to stop them.

His lips quirked up into a smirk, and I raised my hand to shove him, which I did. The smirk turned into a frown.

"What was that for?"

"For being a jerk to me, okay?"

His shoulders rose in a shrug. "Hn."

I rolled my eyes and turned around to skim the party. Sasuke was just a jerk who asked me to a party, yet didn't even bother to show up to it with his 'supposed' date.

—

To be honest, I don't remember when I started to drink the beer. I wasn't for underage, illegal binge drinking, yet I somehow fell into the crowd.

It was somewhere between the time that Suigetsu and Karin were pressured into a small kiss for the birthday boy and it soon led to a hot makeout session between the two, and the time that Ino came up to me and made me at least take a sip of her drink when she figured out that I hadn't had one sip ever since I arrived.

Now, the stars above seemed like they were swirling and the lanterns suddenly became nicer to look at. Laughing seemed to make me hiccup, and the sound was just so intriguing that I wanted to do it over and over and over again.

I sat down by the table that held the drinks, feeling like air and let out a burst of laughter. Ino passed by my vision, leaning on Shikamaru with her heels in his hands because she fell down twice already.

My hands went up to my neck and I realized that the scarf wasn't there anymore. Instead, it was replaced with a glow stick necklace that Naruto gave me after I bumped into him when I dropped my first cup of beer near his feet.

Around twenty, or so, people have left since I was handed the glowing necklace, and I could tell why. All the laughing was actually making me pretty tired.

Yawning, I blinked four times before a pair of legs appeared in front of me and I didn't bother to look up, taking another swig of the beer in my cup before it was forcefully taken away.

"Ey' wha's tha' big idea?" I asked abruptly, frowning, however I began laughing again when I noticed that I somewhat sounded like Suigetsu.

A part of me wondered where he was right now. Then I came to the conclusion that he was probably kissing Karin some more.

"You're acting stupid."

My head snapped up, ready to give this smart-aleck a piece of my mind, before I saw familiar spiky hair.

"Sasuke!" I giggled, and had a sudden urge to hug him. I held on to the table and struggled to get up, thinking that gravity was a lot heavier than it was supposed to be.

He sighed and effortlessly pulled me up by my forearm. Sasuke held out his hand, and I tilted my head at him.

"Keys. I'm taking you home."

"Keys? Where'd I put tha'?" I wondered out loud, tapping my chin and then barked a laugh.

Impatient as ever, Sasuke spun me around and dug into my right back pocket, pulling out my wallet that held my keys.

"Dis' can be counted as sexual harrasmen' I hope ya' kno'!" I argued, squirming under his touch.

Sasuke didn't say another word, and grabbed my wrist. He started to drag me away from the music and towards the parking lot that had a few more cars than I remembered.

He seemed to also remember which car was mine because he didn't even ask for me to point it out.

Once we were nearing the bumper of my wrecked car, I was speaking a mile a minute—almost like Naruto.

"—Why're you draggin' me away? I was havin' a fun time ova' thur'! It's na' fair for ya' ta' do this ta' me! Ima call da' police on ya' ass! Let's see if ya' gon' have a nice time draggin' me away. Wait, did da' make any sense? Haha, oh well. By tha' way—"

"Shut up." Sasuke demanded simply, voice even.

"Did ya' just tell me to shut up? Oh fuck na'! Who da' hell da'—"

My body was pulled in front of Sasuke's without warning, and my back arched against what I assumed was the trunk of my car. I inhaled sharply as Sasuke's face moved in front of mine and then his mouth sealed over mine.

The kiss didn't last long, however I did enjoy the almost icy feel of his lips against my moderately warm ones. A blood-rush spread throughout my body when he pulled away.

His body was replaced with the view of more cars when he backed away and headed towards the driver's seat with my keys in hand.

I blinked, and after a few seconds I staggered over to the passenger seat.

—

Sasuke asked for the directions to my house, and I ended up leading us towards a gas station. We drove around for what seemed like forever until he finally became so fed up that he pulled over and turned off the ignition.

"Hopeless…" He muttered under his breath and pushed back the seat so he'd have more leg room. Sasuke ran a hand down his face.

"Ah, don' be so down!" I told, leaning into my seat slowly. It seemed like the entire car ride had made me slightly drowsy.

"You don't even remember where you live!" He replied snippily, shooting me a glare.

I shrugged and yawned, shifting in the seat. I was now lying on my side, staring out the window, and my eyelids began to feel heavier and heavier.

"Fucking damn it, Sakura…" Was the last thing I heard before my eyelids shut completely and sleep enveloped me.

* * *

**A/N: THIS IS ANOTHER UNEDITED PIECE. It's around like 1 AM, sorry. I just wanted to get this chapter out for you guys! I hope this wasn't too rushed and ooc. Well, I guess Sasuke was a bit ooc, BUT WHATEVER. OOC SASUKE IS A NICE GUY. LITERALLY. **

**REVIEW PLEASEEEE! It makes chapters go out faster!**

**PS. oh no Kiba in this chapter. sadface**


	15. XV

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

XV.

* * *

When I woke up, let me tell you—the pain emanating from my back was almost like I'd been stabbed with a few thousand needles, plus my leg was asleep. I glanced down at myself and I noticed a glowstick necklace around my neck, to my surprise.

It actually took me a moment to realize that I was in my beat up car, sitting in a cramped position. Groaning, I ran a hand down my face, trying to recall why I was in the car—and it can't be because I was driving home since I'm nowhere near my apartment complex.

My head hurt, but it wasn't a migraine or anything like that, just a small pounding as I tried to recollect the events of the party.

_Sasuke's body. His hand wrapped around my wrist. Cold lips._

Blinking, I paused for a moment.

A few seconds passed as I looked outside of the front window of my car.

My head snapped toward the driver's seat—and sure enough there Sasuke was: slouched in the seat with his arms crossed across his chest, still wearing the clothes from yesterday.

Did I mention that his eyes were open?

"Finally you're awake."

—

It's silent, and I'm regretting not buying a new car since I can't turn on the radio if the heat is on.

Inside my head there's a mental war going on, and I'm trying to convince myself to talk to Sasuke about what happened yesterday which I'm pretty sure isn't a good idea, yet I can't just stay quiet about him kissing me!

I was perplexed because he's always bossing me around with orders and threats—maybe that's his way of showing compassion?

I inwardly shook my head, concluding that my thought was ridiculous.

Taking a deep breath, I turned toward Sasuke whose eyes were on the road.

"Sasuke?" His voice came out of my mind timidly almost, either a result from the slight headache or being nervous.

He angled his head towards me to some extent, a sign to show that he was listening.

"So, yesterday... Uhm—I..." The words jumbled up in my mouth, twisting my tongue around them and tying it together. "You see, I remember—or I think I do, because I might be wrong and—"

"Can you get to the point?" Sasuke cut me off, his voice stripped of any emotion that sounded like he actually cared about what I had to say.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I pursed my lips at him. This is exactly what I meant about him being rude!

"You kissed me yesterday, why?"

"...To get you to shut up."

My eyes probably looked like they were bulging out of my skull by how wide they were.

"T-To get me to shut up! You could have just told me to do so!"

"You were drunk."

"And?!"

Sasuke sighed in annoyance, and flicked on the turn signal, ignoring my previous question.

"Sasuke!"

"Sakura," he replied, irritated. "Will you shut up?"

"What are you going to do if I don't?" I spoke, frustrated. "Kiss me again?"

I was sure that he was rolling his eyes inside of his mind, and I crossed my arms, huffing.

"Kissing people isn't a way of shutting them up, you know..." I grumbled to him, casting my eyes at the building nearing us. "That's my stop, the next building."

Sasuke parked between two cars, and turned off the ignition. "Are you saying that you didn't like the kiss?"

"I'm not saying that I didn't like it, but—" I stopped myself from going further, realizing how my words sounded in that stringed up sentence. "Wait a second!"

I was going to correct my sentence, but then I noticed that Sasuke was already out of the car, walking down the street.

"Wait!" I repeated in a cry, getting out of the car also and looking over the roof of the vehicle. "That was a cheap shot!"

He didn't turn around, yet I was positive that he heard me because he turned back for a second, a smirk on his face and the blush on my face was prominent at this point.

—

"You look horrible," Ino told me as she slid into the seat next to mine. It was my Study Hall block, and I was very grateful for it since I looked like I just got out of bed.

"Gee, thanks." I sarcastically replied, rolling my eyes.

When I got inside my house and saw that I had already missed a class period, I took a quick shower and threw on a hoodie. I didn't even bother to do anything to my hair since I was already late, and settled for dabbing on a bit of chapstick as makeup.

She smiled and combed her fingers through my hair, somewhat trying to 'discreetly' fix it. "I see you had fun yesterday, huh?"

Just thinking about the party made me think about the kiss, which made me think about Sasuke, who I didn't want to think about.

"Yeah, I guess..." I shrugged, trying to be as aloof as possible.

"Oh my gosh! Tell me!" Ino shrieked, causing to gain the attention of now-angry-students who were trying to study. She waved them off.

"What?" I questioned her.

"Something juicy happened to you, so give me the details!" Ino's smile broadened.

"Nothing happened to me!" I lied, mildly shocked at how she figured this out instantly. Was I that transparent?

"Oh, you liar! Was it something with Sasuke? I saw you two leave together!"

Heat rose up my face, dusting my cheeks harshly.

Ino's eyes widened. "Did you guys kiss?"

I stared at her, gulping, hoping she wouldn't figure it out and wave it off like she did to those students.

"You guys kissed—!"

With my hand slapped over Ino's mouth, I shushed her and told her to keep quiet.

"He kissed me, now shut up!" I told her strictly, and there was this startled look on her features.

"I knew Sasuke had a thing for you." She said smugly, eyes still wide.

I knitted my eyebrows together, and she continued.

"It was so obvious! I've known Sasuke since like forever—since I met Shika, and I can easily tell when he has a crush, or when Naruto has a crush, which Naruto already does."

"Naruto likes someone?"

"Yeah, this girl with really light eyes that works at Desus."

"Hinata?"

"You know her?"

"I work there..."

"You_ work _there? Wait—back to Sasuke!"

I groaned and folded my arms on the table in front of us, my head falling into them.

"He most definitely has a crush on you, or at least finds you attractive because he talks to you a lot!"

"Hardly..." I mumble to myself.

"Sakura-chan!"

Lifting up my head, I noticed a blond male with eyes that put the sky to shame. He was simultaneously waving and walking towards Ino and me.

Ino bumped me with her shoulder and nodded to something beside Naruto, and then I saw a confusing jerk walking with him.

"Naruto! _Sasuke!_" She greeted them with a smile, and the way she placed the emphasis on Sasuke's name almost made me want to choke her.

"Hey, Ino!" Naruto grinned and took a seat across from said person, which left the seat across from myself completely open and there sat Sasuke.

My jaw slightly dropped at how refreshed he looked, almost as if he didn't stay out partying the night before.

"Sakura-chan? Are you okay?" Naruto inquired, slightly tilting his head.

Blinking, I gave a barley audible scoff and adverted my gaze to the table next to Sasuke, not caring to look at him.

"She's just... It's that time of the month, is all!" Ino chirped, clasping her hands together and I shot her a glare.

"What?" I spat out, eyes burning in rage.

"What?" Ino mimicked innocently.

"Do you have anything in that head of yours, or is it as hollow as your personality?!" My voice was very snippy, and my cheeks were on fire in embarrassment.

Couldn't she think of a _different reason_ as to why I was acting like this? Did she _really_ have to say that?

"_Excuse _me?" Ino replied, slightly aggravated at the insult.

"You're excused." I retorted as she came closer.

"Just because Sasuke has the hots for you, doesn't mean that you can go prancing around _slandering _people!" Ino whispered to me—yet, she didn't whisper it that quietly.

"Woah—Sasuke gave you action?" Naruto laughed, and I flushed, shoving Ino for saying it out loud.

Then I noticed that the person who was the root of this conversation happening hadn't said a word all throughout the argument, and my eyes flickered to him for a moment.

"She didn't deny that she liked it, though." Sasuke shrugged.

"No I didn't!" I shrilled in a somewhat quiet tone to not be glowered at by other people.

"Don't lie to us, Sakura!" Naruto joked, smiling. "You both would actually make a cute couple."

"Stop that!" I demanded, not wanting to be embarrassed further.

"We're just joking around, Sakura, geeze." Ino patted my head, who obviously forgot easily about the previous argument. I shook my head.

I turned to Sasuke who smirked at Naruto, and my cheeks began to become a deeper shade of red.

No, I do not like Sasuke, and Sasuke does not like me. That's how it is.

—

"You look a bit distracted—is it because of my glamorous good looks?"

I looked up from my task of wiping down the counter, which I had stopped doing a while ago.

"Huh?" I blinked, glancing at Kiba.

Tenten passed by, holding a tray of sandwiches in her hands, and she spared me a look with a raised eyebrow before heading to her table.

"Are you okay?" He asked again, placing his soft drink down on the counter and turned around on the bar-stool.

"Yeah, just distracted is all..."

"Ooo, is it boy related?" Tenten questioned, smiling deviously as she passed by again to place the tray down.

"Is it?" Kiba repeated instantaneously, both eyebrows darting up.

I backed up a few steps and walked towards the register, wiping away any dust. "Woah, you guys need to cool it."

Tenten hit me upside the head when she returned, whining: "You barely tell us anything anymore!" Then she looked at Kiba. "Well, he doesn't need to know anything."

"Hey!" He hollered, offended.

"Kidding, kidding... Somewhat..." She returned, dismissing him with a hand.

I sighed, threw down the rag and cursed at a boy with ebony hair and eyes that is now residing in my thoughts.

* * *

**A/N: WOAH. I'm like super ashamed about not being able to update! It's just that lately, I've barely been on the computer and it's just like wow. I hate that I'm also busy with finals and it's highly overwhelming. BUT I'LL GET THROUGH IT! YES. PREVAIL. **

**PS. This is not proof read yet bc like I'm lazy haha.**

**REVIEW PLEASE! REVIEWS GET THESE OUT FASTER BC LIKE IT GIVES ME MOTIVATION. REVIEWPLSSSSS.**

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW.**


	16. XVI

**Mended**

_Love is life,  
__and if you miss love...  
__You miss life._

XVI.

* * *

The month of February went by in a spur of uneventful days, which mostly consisted of myself avoiding Sasuke. However, March was a pleasant month since my birthday and Spring Break was celebrated (Mom festooned the kitchen with decorations, and we had cake and pizza), plus I didn't have to work the week of my birth-slash-break!

Then, April Fools rolled around pretty quickly, which caused a small ruckus throughout the Juniors in KSU because they had a flash mob in the middle of the hallway in the main building. I wasn't actually present during the dance, but I heard it was hilarious.

Now, we're in the middle of the rainy month—and _man,_ is it rainy.

I tugged my sweatshirt hood over my head and ducked my face, pulling my textbooks closer to my chest in a feeble attempt to salvage them from the precipitation pouring down.

Jogging up the steps, I hauled open the glass doors of the A building and nearly tripped as I tried to enter quickly.

A groan escaped my lips as the hood fell down and the squishy noises of my ballet flats (worst choice _ever_ for today—but it wasn't pouring this heavily a moment ago) reached my ears. The soles of the flats had absorbed all the water from the rain, therefore now they're basically ruined, and making a very irritating noise.

The doors opened once more after a few minutes of me pulling off my shoes and trying to squeeze the water out. It wasn't like I had come in to school late.

A sound of an umbrella rustling and closing caught my attention, and I paused midway in placing my flats back on to turn and look at the person, my face flushed.

Staring back at me were a pair of eyes that matched the color of his black overcoat, a plastic clear umbrella half-shut in his hand.

I blew a strand of hair away from my face.

—

The rain had progressively lightened after 5 of my classes passed by, and I was glad because I didn't need my now-dry flats to get soaked once more.

I turned on the ignition of my car and placed the heat on maximum when there was a knock on my window.

I rolled it down and was surprised to find Ino, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke behind the now non-existent window and blinked a few times.

"Yeah?" I dragged out, confused.

"Sakura!" Ino frowned slightly. "Do you mind giving us a ride to that _c_afé you work at? Uhm, shoot, I don't remember the name..."

"Desus?" I finished off for her in the format of a question, not sure if she meant that place because lets face it... Ino's a bit of a forgetful ditz.

"Yeah!" She squeaked out, nodding. "So can we all climb in?"

I craned my neck to look behind Ino once more, worrying that they weren't all going to fit in the car. However, I didn't get to voice my opinion because Sasuke was already at the passenger seat next to the drivers, and opened the door, umbrella in hand.

Next thing I know, Ino, Shikamaru, and Naruto all piled into the backseats, strapping themselves in.

"Put on some tunes!" Ino demanded, running her long sleeved shirt down her face to pat off any raindrops that latched onto her skin.

"I—"

"She can't," Sasuke cut me off, elbow on the car armrest. "It's either heat or music."

Ino huffed and slumped in her seat, leaning her head on Shikamaru's shoulder. Naruto chuckled and threw his arms behind his head.

I was actually still surprised that Sasuke had recalled what I told him about my car, even though this might be the second time he's remembered.

Putting the car in reverse, I got out of the parking space and shifted to drive whilst I looked at Sasuke from the corner of my eye for a moment.

"Uhm, not anymore..." I smiled. "My mother got it fixed for me for my birthday!"

It was true! Along with various clothing items, Mom had called in a car repair company to, well... Repair it!

"_Birthday_?" Shikamaru interjected and I could feel everyone's eyes on me. "It was your birthday?"

I turned on the left blinker and made a turn. "Yeah, it was during spring break. The 28th, to be specific."

"You never told us!" Naruto and Ino both shouted, sounding somewhat annoyed by it.

I shrugged. "I didn't want to bother you."

"Hn."

Didn't have to look to see whom that came from.

"Well, this just means I'm getting you a late birthday present then, Sakura Haruno!" Ino blew out, and before I could protest, she leaned forward and turned on the radio.

—

Once we entered Desus, the first person I saw was Kiba, and my eyes brightened up since I hadn't seen him the entire month, including throughout spring break.

He couldn't make it to my "birthday party" either since he had gone off to Suna to visit a few of his cousins for the month beginning the start of college break which was the 20th until the 31st. However, he said he'd return during April, and imagine my surprise when I saw him.

When his chocolate eyes spotted me, they brightened up almost immediately and I grinned as I took in his appearance. A striped shirt that hugged his body slightly and jeans, plus the gray sweater on the stool he was sitting on before he walked up to me and engulfed me in a hug that nearly knocked the wind out of my.

He literally picked me up, but didn't swing me around in caution of the other customers nearby.

"Kiba!" I shrieked into the crook of his neck, wrapping my arms around him to keep myself balanced, and couldn't help but enjoy the usual cinnamon scent wafting from him.

"Happy belated birthday, Sakura!" He laughed, placing me down and ruffled my hair. "You're twenty now!"

I gave him a sheepish look, feeling somewhat like a grandmother. "Shut up, you're making me feel old."

"Stop that! You're _very_ young, and_ very_ beautiful today." Kiba complimented, albeit I was wearing lazy clothes for today. He finally took notice of the four people behind me and a blush formed on my cheeks when I realized that they all had witnessed it.

I noted how Kiba's eyes slightly narrowed when they stopped on Sasuke's face and I quickly interlocked our arms together to drag him away. It worked, and once we were back at his stool I observed that Tenten wasn't manning the register or serving tables.

"Where's Tenten?" I inquired, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, the first time you see me and all you can think about is another person?" He frowned jokingly, bringing an already paid for to-go cup of what could either be hot chocolate or coffee to his lips and took a sip.

I playfully hit his arm. "Shut up, you know I love you."

"Yeah, but just not in that way," he sighed and I rolled my eyes.

"You're illegal, you're seventeen, and I don't want to go to jail." I reasoned with him.

"So when my birthday comes up, will you date me?" Kiba asked, his features melting into the biggest smile ever.

"Where's Tenten?" I repeated my question, and he stuck his tongue out at me, but finally answered.

"She took the day off early, said she didn't want to be stuck in this rain."

I nodded in agreement, and gave Kiba a once over as he took another sip of his drink. I had really missed the little talks we both had with each other, which was something I really cherished.

"But, I have to go," he informed me, standing up and grabbing his sweater and shrugged it on. "School ended around a half hour ago."

Kiba swiped the cup off the counter and leaned down, giving me a quick peck on the cheek before walking away from me.

"Wait, why'd you stay then?"

He stopped and turned, then began walking backwards. "Stuck around to see you."

The bells jingled, indicating that the door was opened, and then like magic, Kiba disappeared.

Shaking my head, I touched the cheek he kissed and slightly laughed to myself. Kiba was really stubborn.

Suddenly, I remembered Ino and them, and turned to scan the entire room for them just to find them around a table, one of the seats left for someone who I presumed was me.

—

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend..." Ino told me, cocking her head slightly.

"What? I _don't_!"

"Then who was that guy?" Naruto intervened, eyebrows arching.

"My friend. He's seventeen!"

"Then why did he kiss your cheek?" Shikamaru asked.

"Bet it wasn't as good as Sasuke's kiss, on your lips." Ino scoffed, looking through the menu.

"Ino!" Shikamaru and I harshly replied.

My face turned fifty shades of red, and I glanced at Sasuke who wasn't staring at me, but was rather fixated on the menu and didn't even mind Naruto's semi-quiet guffaws.

"That was, like, three months ago!" I glared. "Can we let that go?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but didn't speak.

Ino giggled and slid an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, we all know you guys love each other! Might as well go out now!"

I pulled myself away from her and looked away and at Hinata who stood next to Naruto who blinked up at her.

"Hi! My name's Hinata, and I'll be your server f-for tonight! Are you ready to order?" She asked, smiling.

Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, bangs falling down to frame her facial structure. When she seemed to notice who was beside her, redness dusted her cheeks.

Everyone around the table began voicing their orders, and when I finished mine (just hot chocolate and coffee bread), it was Naruto's turn.

He ended up spilling the water a previous waiter had brought to them.

—

When I was dropping everyone off back at their dorms, the rain had started to lighten to a reasonable drizzle.

Everyone thanked me for basically being their chauffeur, and they all got out—except for one person: Sasuke Uchiha.

"Do you need something?" I asked him politely, trying my hardest to resist the urge to look over at him to see his facial expression.

"You've been avoiding me," he blatantly stated.

"What?" I pffted. "No I haven't..."

Some sweat began to accumulate on my palms, making the steering wheel harder to get a grip on. Did he really notice that I've been trying to not talk to him for the past couple months? But if he did, what did it matter to him? He didn't even respond to what Ino said at Desus.

"Yeah, you have. You won't even look at me."

I harrumphed. "Why do you even care? It shouldn't matter to you!"

"Oh really?"

My heart began to race and I gathered up some courage to face him, and when I did, he was already looking at me, arms crossed and over his stomach.

"Yes!" I brought my chin up in an attempt to be intimidating, and stubbornly glowered. "You don't just kiss someone, make them uncomfortable, and then expect them to talk to you!"

"So the kiss made you uncomfortable," Sasuke said, sounding slightly amused.

"Well, not really, but then again yeah!"

He rose an eyebrow, persuading me to continue.

"I mean, you act like a dick to me, and then you play it off by trying to be nice! I mean, it's really weird how you used to make me run around doing your little errands like I was your butler!" I huffed out, shifting in my seat.

There was a pause in the air, and everything was quiet except for the hum of the heat.

Then I heard Sasuke sigh, and out of the corner of my eye he shrugged.

"It was just funny seeing you scramble around, and I couldn't believe you really believed that lie I told you." When I turned my head, he was smirking. "Like I could actually get my brother to expel someone I disliked. Plus, you're smarter than half of the dimwits in this university, so it'd just be a loss for the college. Just not street smart."

I felt some warmth begin to gather at the base of my neck and flow upwards to my face. He called me smarter than a fairly large percentage of the students at KSU. But then all that warmth was replaced by anger when I realized he lied to me.

"You asshole!" I shrieked, hitting his arm and he didn't even react to the punch, staring out the front window. "Why would you do that?"

"Hn. You just annoyed me. You also poured scalding coffee on me."

"That was an _accident_!"

He chuckled lowly, and turned to face me.

I began feeling the warmth coming back up just by his dark eyes locking with mine. I blinked a few times and couldn't help but bite my lip.

"That doesn't... That doesn't change the fact that you lied." I told him quietly, noticing that Sasuke had removed his seat belt and leaned closer to me.

"Yeah?" He retorted in a whisper, his eyes dropping to my lips for a fraction of a second.

Sasuke was close enough that I could smell the gum he had previously chewed at Desus before spitting it out, and a slight hint of a woodsy pine cone scent. It was almost... Intoxicating.

_No, Sakura! You're angry at him!_ I thought to myself, trying to persuade myself to recoil away from Sasuke, however, I was pretty much frozen.

Then a pair of soft lips met mine. At first, I was pretty stiff, but when Sasuke nipped at my bottom lip, it was game over.

A tingling sensation ran down my spine and caused me to curl my toes and incline towards him.

My hands found their way up to his shoulders, and they gripped the familiar overcoat that I had taken note of this morning in the hallway.

The kiss was short in my opinion, but as soon as Sasuke pulled away, my hands fell slack and fell on the armrest his elbow was on earlier.

"Was that kiss uncomfortable for you?" He questioned, his thumb running across my lips and a smug smile was on his mouth.

Sasuke then got out of the car, leaving me with a red face and a pounding heart.

It took me a minute to realize it had stopped raining outside.

* * *

**A/N: ANDDDDD THERE YOU HAVE IT. I hope this update was satisfactory! Seems like Sasuke and Sakura have some chemistry brewing up. HERHERHERHER. I didn't realize that people actually read the authors notes tbh because I s2g (swear to gosh) I WAS LIKE WAHAAATTT when someone had mentioned my finals in a reviewwww. HEARTS.**

**PS. again not proofread. Apologizing in advance for mistakes**

**REVIEW PLEASEEEE! Idk but there was a splurge of reviews this afternoon. I was pretty surprised and it motivated me to finish this update!**

**REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW**


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